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RSOUBCRIEIKTAY
EUROPEAN FUNDS FOR RE-
FORMS, INTEGRATION AND
DEVELOPMENT
Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, teach him to fish you feed him for a
lifetime! (Old saying)
Fatmir Besimi The process of EU enlargement in ern Balkans in order to stabilize the region
the Western Balkans is of com- and increase the cooperation between the
The author is Vice-President mon interest to both parties. In- countries in the region and create a free-
of the Government of the tegrations imply many reforms trade zone.
Republic of Macedonia in in the society, strengthening of
charge of European Affairs, institutions, harmonization of laws and re- In order to support the process of Euro-
and the opinions and views forms in the economic and social fields. Giv- pean integration of the Western Balkans,
in the article are those of en this context, integration requires strong EU prepares an Enlargement Strategy with
the author political will for the adoption of important a financial package to support this process.
decisions, professional administration to In other words, the financial support of the
22 implement reforms, but also financial sup- EU is „conditioned“ with reforms towards
port for the entire process. Funding should democratization of the society and boost-
undoubtedly be based on the domestic bud- ing the economy, as well as compliance
get, but significant support comes from the with the law and policies of the European
European Union through various funds and Union. In fact, this is the main concept of
programs which, however, are not given the support, the hardest road is chosen that
„blindly“ but are „conditional“ and should leads to sure success. „Conditionality“ with
be earned by fulfilling the criteria and re- reforms is not always attractive to national
forms that are necessary regarding the Eu- governments which have their own politi-
ropean integration. cal mandate that is usually shorter than the
integration process, where the expected re-
Criteria for EU accession sults are in the longer term, which in turn
In June 1993, in Copenhagen, the Europe- makes these efforts less attractive espe-
cially for populist politicians. Yet, reforms
an Council established political, economic remain the safest way to use the European
and legal criteria for membership in the funds. Rather than receiving financial sup-
European Union, known as the Copenhagen port without conditions, they are forced to
criteria. According to those criteria, the reform, which in some ways resembles the
country should have institutions that en- logic of the old saying: „Give a man a fish,
sure democratic governance and respect of you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish
human rights, it should have a functioning you feed him for a lifetime!“
market economy, and accept the obligations
and policies of the European Union. In 1993, Challenges and strategies
the European Union opened the Stabilisa- European integration is not simple, which
tion and Association Process for the West-
is confirmed by the numerous challenges
S eptember 2015
