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SROUBCRIEIKTAY
quis of the European Union; and strength-
ening regional integration and territorial
cooperation. Also, financial support should
mainly be directed to the five policy areas:
reforms in the preparation for EU mem-
bership and related building of institutions
and capacities; socio-economic and regional
development; development of employment,
social policies, education, promotion of gen- the announcements, through IPA-II around
der equality and human capital; agricultural
and rural development; regional and territo-
rial cooperation.
The assistance under this multi-user IPA-
II program for the period 2014-2020 was al-
located on the four axes: horizontal support
of sectoral policies and reforms; regional
structures and networks; regional invest-
ment support; and territorial cooperation.
Horizontal support of the formulation of
national sectoral policies and related reform EU should contribute to the promotion of
strategies is especially needed in the sector various areas related to the EU policies for
democracy and governance, including the
reform of public administration and public
financial management, as well as the rule of
law and fundamental rights. Support should
focus on giving users access to the combined
use of the knowledge of the EU and interna-
tional organizations and best practices, and
should be tailored to the specific situation
of each user. It should also include support
for strengthening civil society as a relevant
actor in a democracy, and support for free
and independent media.
Regional structures and networks are ex-
pected to provide the greatest contribution
to the users development, particularly in
the following sectors: democracy and gover-
nance; rule of law and fundamental rights;
environment and climate change; transport;
Through IPA-II for the energy; competitiveness and innovation in-
period 2014-2020, the cluding trade; education, employment and
European Union allocates social policies, etc. Special attention should
financial assistance for be paid to strengthening the Regional Coop-
candidate countries and eration Council (RCC) in order to ensure fast
potential candidates, in and efficient implementation of the Region-
the amount of 11.7 billion al Strategy of Southeast Europe 2020.
euros through individual
programs and 2.9 billion The support for regional investment
euros through a multi- should be directed towards projects that
beneficiary program for have a clear regional dimension, and it
support of Albania, Bosnia should particularly recognize the invest-
and Herzegovina, Kosovo, ment needs associated with the develop-
Macedonia, Montenegro, ment of the competitiveness of businesses,
Serbia and Turkey the relationship with EU Member States
and environmental protection. Particular
emphasis should be placed on attracting
private capital to the region to enhance
growth. Territorial cooperation should im-
prove neighborly relations and promote
socio-economic development of border re-
gions.
European Union continues with new
initiatives to support the integration of
Western Balkan countries by promoting re-
gional cooperation and development of the
so-called „Western Balkans 6“ through the
Connectivity initiative of the European Com-
mission and the so-called „Berlin Process“ of
Germany, Austria and France. According to
one billion euros will be allocated for infra-
structure in transport and energy aimed at
connecting the region. This will make the
region more competitive and will generate
new private investment, and thus new jobs.
The financing of these projects will pass
through the filter of measurable criteria for
the Western Balkan countries, where within
the financing framework WBIF a methodol-
ogy is harmonized for determining the lists
of priority projects at the national level that
could have a greater effect in terms of in-
creasing the competitiveness and economic
growth of the Western Balkans.
In addition to the above funds aimed at
supporting the EU enlargement, candidate
countries can use funds from the EU pro-
grams through payment of so-called „en-
trance tickets“. The EU programs, as an in-
tegrated package of actions adopted by the
the cooperation between Member States, in
several years. A total of 960 billion euros for
the period 2014 to 2020, representing about
1.2% of the gross national income (GNI) for
the same period.
Observing the integral picture, a complex
structure was built, including institutions,
programs and instruments for financing the
integration with the EU funds for the can-
didate countries. However, in order to use
this support, the candidate countries need
to work on the reforms and provide profes-
sional administration in order to success-
fully use these funds, i.e. European money
for our integration into the EU!
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