June 27 (SeeNews) - The European Union and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) have launched a project to support democratic elections in the Western Balkans, the European Commission said on Tuesday.
The project was inked by EU commissioner for European neighbourhod policy and enlargement negotiations Johannes Hahn and director of ODIHR Michael Georg Link, the EC said in a statement.
The new three years project will be implemented by ODIHR and will support Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, as well as Kosovo in their efforts to follow-up on election observation recommendations in areas related to election management, voter registration and the conduct of the media during election campaigns.
The project has a total budget of 1.6 million euro ($1.8 million) and is co-funded by the EU with 1.4 million euro and by ODIHR with 200,000 euro provided by the Austrian Development Agency.
"The agreement signed today demonstrates our strong commitment to help the Western Balkans on their path to EU accession," commissioner Hahn is quoted saying.
"Within this project, our Office will intensify efforts to promote follow-up of electoral recommendations with a view to bringing elections further in line with OSCE commitments and other international obligations and standards for democratic elections", director Link also said.
All OSCE participating states have committed to follow up on ODIHR electoral assessments and recommendations, while the EU has noted the need to support the follow-up of ODIHR recommendations and to strengthen the link with the wider democratic reforms required for the Western Balkans to meet their European Integration ambitions.
Within the framework of the project, ODIHR will co-operate closely with civil society organizations and providers of electoral assistance, as well as OSCE field offices and EU Delegations.
($=0.8861 euro)