SARAJEVO (Bosnia and Herzegovina), December 14 (SeeNews) – The European Commission said it has adopted its 2015 package of pre-accession assistance programmes to support reforms and regional cooperation in countries wishing to join the EU, totalling approximately 1 billion euro ($1.1 billion).
The funding comes under the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA II), and will be available to Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey. It will support further democratic and economic reforms, the modernisation of the judiciary and of public administration, as well as regional cooperation, the European Commission said in a press release on Friday.
The package notably includes a 155 million euro programme to help fund major regional infrastructure projects in the energy and transport sectors in the Western Balkans: four power interconnections, two road projects and two rail projects, all of which will bring economies and societies closer together.
The EU contribution is expected to trigger loans from partner financial institutions totalling 540 million euro, the Commission added.
Details per country:
Country |
Euro |
Main sectors financed |
Albania |
89,900,000 |
Democracy and Governance, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights, Education, Employment and Social Policies |
Bosnia |
37,200,000 |
Democracy and Governance, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights |
Macedonia |
24,126,000 |
Democracy and Governance, Agriculture and Rural Development |
Kosovo |
78,000,000 |
Democracy and Governance, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights, Energy, Agriculture and Rural Development. |
Montenegro 2015 national programme 2015-2017 multi annual action programme |
25,135,000 15,300,000 |
Democracy and Governance, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights. Education, employment and social policies |
Serbia |
196,600,000 |
Democracy and Governance, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights, Transport policy |
Turkey |
255,100,000 |
Democracy and Governance, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights, Energy, Agriculture and Rural Development |
Multi-Country 2015 – part I Multi-Country 2015-2016 - Connectivity |
122,555,000 155,254,000 |
Horizontal support to sector policies and reforms;Regional structures and networks; Regional investment support. Regional investment support. |
Support measures |
71,557,000 |
Audit 2015 (2,000,000); Evaluation and Monitoring 2015 (2,000,000); Information and Communication 2015-2016 (20,000,000); 2015-2018 support to OHR in Bosnia and Herzegovina (9,557,000); TAIEX 2015 (38,000,000) |
($=0.91 euro)