9.PHARE PRE-ACCESSION ASSISTANCE PROGRAMME
(24336)
7056/03
COM(03) 97
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Commission Report: The PHARE Programme Annual Report 2001.
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| Legal base: | —
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| Document originated: | 3 March 2003
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| Deposited in Parliament: | 10 March 2003
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| Department: | International Development
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| Basis of consideration: | EM of 18 March 2003
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| Previous Committee Report: | None
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| To be discussed in Council: | None planned
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| Committee's assessment: | Politically important
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| Committee's decision: | Cleared, but further information requested
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The report
9.1 PHARE is one of the three EC pre-accession instruments,
the other two being ISPA[18]
and SAPARD.[19] The guidelines
for the programme were revised in 1999, to take account of these
other two programmes, so that it is now designed to assist the
ten candidate countries of Central and Eastern Europe in meeting
the acquis and the funds now focus on the pre-accession
priorities identified in each applicant's Accession Partnership.
9.2 The new guidelines also emphasise the need to use
the programme to ensure a smooth and effective transition towards
accession in the administration of the Structural Funds. During
2001 steps were taken in order to reinforce the programming approach
used under the Structural Funds to help the candidate countries
prepare to benefit from these funds after accession.
9.3 Total PHARE commitments in 2001 amounted to _1641
million. Commitments to national programmes amounted to _ 1091,
of which 37% was allocated to co-financing for institution building,
mainly through twinning, including "twinning light",[20]
and technical assistance. The objective is to assist the candidate
countries to strengthen their public administrations and institutions
to function effectively inside the Union, to promote convergence
with the European Community's extensive legislation, the acquis,
to reduce the need for transition periods and to promote economic
and social cohesion. The remaining 70% was allocated to investments
to improve the regulatory framework within which to implement
the acquis communautaire.
9.4 Over the year 2001,
- _163 million was allocated to cross-border cooperation, _151
million of which was allocated to PHARE-CBC, the Cross-Border
Cooperation programme, with a further _12 million being allocated
to the Baltic-CBC programme in which Poland, Latvia, Lithuania
and Estonia participate;
- _219 million to regional and horizontal programmes, including
the PHARE Horizontal Programme Justice and Home Affairs. This
programme allocated:
- _3.1 million to the rule of law project which focussed
on the functioning of judicial systems;
- _ 3 million to the migration, visa, and external border
management project;
- _ 1.5 million to the judicial cooperation in criminal matters
project;
- _ 1.3 million to the training of judges in EC law project;
- _ 168 million to nuclear safety; and
- _ 1091 million to the national programmes of the candidate
countries as follows:
Bulgaria _83 million, Czech Republic _65 million, Estonia _26
million, Hungary _90 million, Latvia _31 million, Lithuania _46
million, Poland _411 million, Romania _274 million, Slovakia _44
million, Slovenia _21 million.
Programme Management
9.5 The Commission has, increasingly, transferred responsibility
for the management and implementation of PHARE programmes to the
authorities in the candidate countries. As a result, several activities
previously included in multi-country programmes have been integrated
into national programmes. The report gives an overview of progress
towards a fully decentralised implementation system, known as
EDIS. In a Working Document, Preparing for Extended Decentralisation,
the Commission indicates in detail how it interprets the criteria
and conditions in the 1999 Coordination Regulation, and provides
checklists. The report says that respect for the EDIS checklist
is a key tool for candidate countries to show their capacity to
manage the Structural and Cohesion Funds after accession. Funds
have been made available to help them to remedy their shortcomings.
9.6 Another management tool, the Monitoring, Assessment
and Ex-post Evaluation was to be extended, as an Interim Evaluation
Scheme, to Cyprus, Malta and Turkey in 2002. In 2001, 85 monitoring
and assessment/interim evaluation reports were produced by an
independent external contractor, the OMAS and EMS consortium.
9.7 The Annex deals separately with the individual candidate
countries. Success stories are highlighted and the tasks ahead
identified.
Bulgaria
9.8 The success story in 2001 was the design and delivery
to the Bulgarian National Veterinary Service of a computer application
for bovine identification, registration and movement control.
The result was to improve significantly the surveillance of the
epidemiological situation of bovine animals in Bulgaria.
9.9 The tasks ahead were to improve programming and implementation.
There was a need to:
- strengthen the capacity of the Bulgarian authorities to identify
strategic priorities and translate these into mature project proposals.
Programming should be more closely integrated with normal ministerial
policy-making structures;
- strengthen financial management systems and the capacity to
implement projects, particularly in the case of projects involving
investment in economic and social cohesion and grant schemes,
which will account for a steadily increasing proportion of the
PHARE programme; and
- make the new Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) work more effectively.
It was set up in December 2000 to monitor implementation of the
three pre-accession assistance programmes, PHARE, ISPA and SAPARD.
The Czech Republic
9.10 The success story here was the regeneration of forests
on the Czech-German border which had been devastated by decades
of acid rain. The projects were a good example of cross-border
cooperation and the increased tourism has boosted the economy
of the region.
9.11 The tasks ahead included:
- additional efforts to ensure that matters run smoothly, after
accession, focussing in particular on reform of public administration
and preparation for managing the Structural Funds with, as a crucial
step, the transfer, using the EDIS process, of full responsibility
for procurement and implementation to the Czech authorities; and
- to agree on a high quality PHARE 2003 programme to enable
the government to cope with the considerable funding that will
be allocated to projects for investment in Economic and Social
Cohesion. This would be a major challenge.
Estonia
9.12 The implementation of an environmental accession
programme for air quality and water treatment was the success
story. "Twinning light" with Sweden and Finland proved
a highly effective instrument in such a small and dynamic country.
It allowed for a flexible and speedy reaction to Estonia's remaining
institution-building needs.
9.13 Tasks ahead included completion of the Single Programming
Document and the EDIS process for ISPA.
Hungary
9.14 The success story here was a twinning project with
Italy for a Regional Preparatory Programme for the Implementation
of Structural Funds Regulations (RPP). The main beneficiaries
were the seven Regional Development Agencies. The project helped
to prepare the seven Hungarian NUTS II regions for their role
in the programming, implementation and monitoring of future Structural
Funds.
9.15 Tasks ahead included preparing the institutions,
including training staff, to manage the Structural Funds. Putting
in place the management and financial control systems required
for extended decentralisation[21]
was vital.
Latvia
9.16 One of Latvia's busiest highways, the Via Baltica,
is an important stretch of the Trans-European Transport Network.
A project to upgrade a bridge has eliminated one of the bottlenecks
along the route and ensured safe use of the bridge in the future,
now that its carrying capacity meets EU standards.
9.17 Tasks ahead included further preparation for Structural
Funds and strengthening institution building, which remained "a
very important challenge".
Lithuania
9.18 The success story in 2001 was the construction of
four new border police stations, to the same design. Each has
an observation tower and video cameras, as well as modern facilities
for the staff. Each can function independently, with its own emergency
electricity supply, artesian well and helicopter pad with night
lighting. Two further stations to the same design have been financed
by the Lithuanian Government.
9.19 The biggest challenge amongst tasks ahead would
be to move to extended decentralisation. The first stage of EDIS
implementation was planned for 2002, with the second stage (gap
plugging) planned to take place in the first half of 2003. The
third state (compliance assessment) was planned for the middle
of 2003.
Poland
9.20 Poland's success story was the reduction of air
pollution in the city of Wroclaw, which is close to "the
Black Triangle". A modern heating system replaced the old
network and 50 local boiler houses are due to be phased out.
9.21 One of the biggest challenges ahead would be to
introduce in 2003 the EDIS system for implementing the PHARE and
ISPA programmes. The implementation of the Social and Economic
Cohesion (ESC) programmes had been delayed in 2000. The successful
implementation of these programmes, including full adherence to
co-financing commitments, will facilitate implementation of the
Structural Funds.
Romania
9.22 The completion on schedule, or ahead of schedule,
of a project to rehabilitate the sewerage infrastructure and wastewater
treatment plant in the Jiu Valley has dramatically improved the
environment there and provided customers with a 24 hour water
supply. The introduction of new technology for cleaning and inspecting
pipes resulted in substantial savings, avoiding the need to replace
32 km of pipes.
9.23 The majority of funds has been earmarked for the
PHARE National Programme, which includes the continuation of the
Children First programme, assisting local authorities to
close large old-style residential care institutions.
9.24 The key challenge ahead would be to strengthen administrative
capacity to implement the PHARE programmes. The contracting rate
of the 2000 funds had been low and the 2001 programme had only
just started. Contracting and disbursement would be subject to
a specific provision included in the 2001 programme by the Commission
which requires the Romanian Government to prepare an Action Plan.
Slovakia
9.25 PHARE supported the reconstruction of the Esztergom-Štúrovo
Danube Bridge, which was officially inaugurated in October 2001.
As it crosses an international waterway, the stipulations of the
shipping authorities had to be strictly observed. Environment-friendly
technologies were applied to protect the natural and built environment
near the site.
9.26 Tasks ahead include intensified efforts in the areas
of justice and home affairs, including the fight against corruption
and organised crime, and priority being given to the environment,
agriculture and transport.
Slovenia
9.27 The Italian Ministry of the Interior (as the leader)
and the Spanish Ministry of the Interior (as the junior) were
partners in a twinning project on the Prevention and Repression
of Organised Crime. Activities consisted of meetings of experts,
and workshops, on witness protection, assets forfeiture and organised
crime. Visits were made to Italy and Spain to study these issues
and others such as financial crime, illegal drugs trafficking,
computer crime and crime analysis. The project was rated by the
independent monitor, the EMS consortium, as outstanding.
9.28 In view of Slovenia's advanced stage of preparation
for accession, the focus for the tasks ahead would be on enforcement.
Preparation for managing the Structural Funds would have to be
accelerated in 2002.
The Government's view
9.29 The Secretary of State for International Development
(Clare Short) says that the move towards the EDIS system for transferring
the procurement and implementation of programmes to the governments
of the candidate countries system is especially welcome. It will
develop their capacity to handle the significant resources that
will be allocated to them on accession.
9.30 The Minister comments on the great difficulty which
the candidates have experienced in managing more than double the
previous amount of pre-accession aid, with the onset of both ISPA
and SAPARD. The Structural Funds will be worth many times the
current pre-accession allocation. For this reason, the Minister
says, the emphasis on institution and capacity building is sensible.
The UK Government contributes approximately 19.5% of the budget
of these programmes.
Conclusion
9.31 As in the case of other documents we have scrutinised
on pre-accession aid, the Secretary of State stresses the difficulty
which the candidate countries have had in managing the funds available
to them. The emphasis placed on institution and capacity-building
echoes earlier reports and it is becoming increasingly clear that
some, if not most, of the accession states will still have work
to do by May 2004.
9.32 We ask the Minister whether the possibility that
these states may not be able to make use of the considerably increased
funds which will be allocated to them from the Structural Funds,
possibly for some years after accession, has been taken into account
by the Commission in forecasting spending from the General Budget,
and in what way. What scope is there for the Council to decide,
for instance, to phase in the entitlements?
9.33 Meanwhile, we clear the document.
18 The
Instrument for Structural Policies for Pre-Accession (ISPA) supports
infrastructure policies for the environment and transport in the
candidate countries. Back
19 SAPARD
is the Special Accession Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development
Back
20 The
secondment of experts from Member States to the candidate countries
to help develop their capacity to implement specific aspects of
the acquis. Back
21 The
transfer of responsibility for procurement and implementation
of the PHARE and ISPA programmes to local authorities. The SAPARD
programme has been implemented on a decentralised basis from its
inception. Back
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