Suspension of contracting of projects from the PHARE 2006 Programme has been annulled and 5 million euros from the IPA 2008 have been unblocked.
Activities undertaken in order to meet the standards
At the meetings of the Joint Supervisory Board for Monitoring the Implementation of EU Programmes, held on the 10th and 11th December, 2007, the European Commission set the standards in order to improve the quality of operation of the PHARE programme implementation system. Then it was decided that, in case of failing to meet the standards, the contracting of the project within the PHARE 2006 programme would be suspended and that the allocated funds for the IPA 2008 programme would be reduced for 5 million euros.
Standards were set in a way that:
Standards:
More information on the activities undertaken in order to meet the standards
Based on the activities undertaken to resolve standards and on positive outcomes in the increase of quality of operation of the system which will, in the near future, lead to the concrete results in terms of the timely preparation of qualitative documentation, the European Commission has decided to remove the suspension of contracting of projects from the PHARE 2006 programme and to return 5 million euros to the allocation for the IPA 2008 (its programming, registration and projects approval are currently underway).
This decision is a confirmation of good performance of the Croatian Government which has given necessary significance to the implementation of pre-accession EU programmes and which has noticed on time the areas that need to be changed and which has done that in the shortest possible term. It is one more proof that the Government does not turn away from problems but it solves all difficulties resolutely, qualitatively and fast.
Large moves have been made at short notice. The goal has not just been to fulfil the set standards but to truly establish the system which will be strong and qualitative and through which we will be able to notice, independently and in advance, the flaws and to correct them, as well as through which we will train ourselves so that, when we join the European Union, we can successfully use the resources from the European Funds which are considerably greater than the pre-accession aid programmes.
There are a great number of people working in the system of the pre-accession aid programmes implementation, who are motivated, full of enthusiasm and they feel they do something big for their country. The Croatian state administration shows and proves that it is not incompetent nor passive, but that it is an administration which undergoes a process of learning in a far shorter period of time than other states and during which it has to meet considerably higher standards imposed by the Commission due to the negative experience of other states so that the mistakes of others would not be repeated in our system.
The system of the pre-accession aid funds management in Croatia can not be compared with that in Slovenia, Serbia or in some other state, because it is a case of completely different systems.
In Serbia, as well as in other surrounding states, they have still not taken the independent management of pre-accession aid programmes upon themselves and the Delegation of the European Commission is the one that manages these resources and projects there. On the other hand, in 2006, we got the permission for independent work while the Delegation has kept carrying out continuous controls considering the PHARE and the ISPA. Regarding the SAPARD, we manage it completely independently, with subsequent Commission's controls.
Slovenia is a member state and it was undergoing, much earlier than us, the process of learning and taking the independent pre-accession aid programmes management upon itself. Now it uses the European Funds and rules of these funds differ from those of the pre-accession funds.