IPA creates a single, unified financial instrument for pre-accession assistance and this for the whole period of the financial framework from 2007 till 2013. It also includes key elements of the structural funds mechanisms and of the common agricultural policy. The assistance will therefore help prepare for participation in the EU’s cohesion policy and rural development instruments in a more straightforward manner.

IPA will also help strengthen ties with neighbouring countries, including EU Member States, through cross-border co-operation projects. Besides the country-specific approach, a multi-beneficiary programme will support joint projects by several countries in several areas of intervention.

In a learning curve process, we expect national administrations to increasingly assume ownership of programming and take over responsibility of implementation of activities.

The objective is therefore to entrust your administrations with the management of EU funds over time with progressive decentralisation of EU aid. Decentralised implementation makes pre-accession assistance more effective. In addition, decentralised management must be seen as a learning process by itself for your countries. This will eventually lead to the management of large amounts of EU funds, once you become a Member State.

Therefore, the IPA regulatory framework provides for detailed rules concerning the responsibility of each actor involved in the management of funds and the structures to be put in place by your administrations.

In order to appropriately accompany the process of decentralisation in the Western Balkan countries, the Commission has decided to strengthen the administrative capacity of its Delegations in Belgrade, Podgorica, Pristina and Skopje. This goes together with a gradual transfer of responsibilities from the European Agency for Reconstruction to the Delegations in 2007 and 2008.

The parallel phasing in of the Delegations and phasing out of the Agency should ensure a successful start of IPA while continuing the smooth implementation of the remaining CARDS programmes. EC assistance can thus be delivered to the region without disruption.

This would not be possible without the work performed by the European Agency for Reconstruction. Its achievements are widely recognised and highly appreciated. They have contributed significantly to the move from reconstruction aid to pre-accession assistance.

It has to be mentioned that the new instrument also includes assistance for information and communication activities, on our programmes and projects in particular, as well as on what the EU stands for in general.

Reference: SPEECH/07/557 Date: 20/09/2007

Source:
Press Release