Course 9 - MPE - 2012-2013_Decrypted

7/30/2019 Course 9 - MPE - 2012-2013_Decrypted

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G. & D. CHIRLEAN, Management of the International Projects Course

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Chapter 9: PRE-ACCESSION FUNDSPHARE, ISPA

AND SAPARD

STRUCTURE OF THE COURSE 9:

9.1:Pre-accession funds

9.1.1.: What are the pre-accession funds?

9.1.2.: EU regional policy and enlargement

9.1.3.: Actual situation of the pre-accession funds in Romania

9.2.: PHARE, ISPA and SAPARD Programmes

9.2.1.: PHARE Programme

9.2.2.: ISPA Programme

9.2.3.: SAPARD Programme

9.3.: Practical example of project financed by the pre-accession funds (PHARE project)

9.1: Pre-accession funds in Romania

9.1.1.: What are pre-accession funds?

Starting with the year 2000, the European Union supports the candidate states from

Central and Eastern Europe in their efforts of preparing themselves for joining EU by three

financial instruments: PHARE, ISPA and SAPARD.

Note:

PHARE = Poland Hungary Aid for Reconstruction of the Economy

ISPA = Instrument Structurel de Pr-Adhsion (Pre-Accession Structural Instrument)

SAPARD = Special Accession Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development

The enlargement of the European Union to include the countries of central and eastern

Europe is an historic turning point. The Community, including both its institutions and its

policies, faces what is probably its greatest challenge ever, given the large number of applicant

countries and the economic and social disparities involved.

Despite the major efforts being made by the applicant countries, their integration into the

existing Community structures and policy programmes will be a complex task. The enlargementprocess will also require the Union to conduct its relations with its other partners in Europe and

beyond with great care so that enlargement contributes to the general goals of enhanced security

and international cooperation.

The Commission presented to the Council a series of global proposals for strengthening

thepre-accession strategy for all the applicant CEECs in its communication entitled "Agenda

2000".

The aims of this strategy are:

to provide a consistent and coherent programme to prepare these countries for joining theUnion;

to provide with the Accession Partnerships a single framework for the various forms ofEU assistance;
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to make the applicants familiar with the procedures and policies of the Union so that theycan take part in Community programmes, and to provide assistance in compliance with

the Community acquis.

At the summit in Berlin, the European Council agreed to include expenditure for the threepre-accession instruments in a new Heading 7 in the financial perspective for the period from

2000 to 2006.

The European Council made a clear distinction between pre-accession expenditure

and enlargement. Expenditure reserved for pre-accession can only be used during the pre-

accession period. Once a country joins the European Union, it will benefit from special

enlargement assistance, detailed under Heading 8 of the Presidency conclusions at the Berlin

European Council.The eligible countries for pre-accession strategy were: Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary,

Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia, and Croatia since

January 2005.

PHARE has been created at the beginning of 1989 for Poland and Hungary, first twocountries in the region that gave up to communism and to centralized economy. The aim of the

programme was to help these two countries within the transition process from the communist

regime to the democratic one (hence its name:PolandHungaryAid forReconstruction of the

Economy).

Once other countries from the center and East of Europe have passed to a democratic

regime, they have been included also in the programme. Thus, in 1996, 13 states were receiving

non-reimbursable PHARE funds: 10 candidate states (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia,

Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia), Albania, Bosnia-

Herzegovina and the Former Yugoslav Republic Macedonia.

Since 2000, the three states from the Western part of Balkans have been included in the

CARDS programme (Community Assistance for Reconstruction, Development and Stability ofBalkans), PHARE becoming and instrument exclusively centered on supporting the accession

process of the 10 candidate states from Central and Eastern Europe.

The other three candidate countries (Cyprus, Malta and Turkey) benefited too of pre-

accession assistance on behalf of the Union, by the help of separate instruments.

The pre-accession funds finance expenditure on the adoption of the existing body of

Community law and on development in general.

Mainly we will focus our presentation on ISPA, PHARE and SAPARD pre-accession

funds.

ThePHARE programmehas been funding modernization in the Central-Eastern

European Countries (CEECs) for over ten years. In 1997 and 1999 it was modified the better to

meet the requirements of accession and to prepare the countries for the Structural Funds. It

already finances a raft of projects, including cross-border co-operation schemes, in areas that will

be covered by the Structural Funds.

The Pre-Accession Structural Instrument(ISPA) has been funding transport and

environmental schemes in all the CEECs since early 2000, along the same lines as the Cohesion

Fund model designed for the least prosperous EU members. It provides direct financing for

environmental projects to help apply directives that call for heavy investment, and for transport

projects directly connected to the ten pan-European corridors that have been identified in these

countries.
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The Special Accession Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development

(SAPARD) has also been in operation since 2000, helping the applicants prepare for the common

agricultural policy, in particular for its standards of food quality and consumer and

environmental protection.

Separate aid programmes were also drawn up in 2000 for Cyprus, Malta and Turkey, carrying onfrom earlier programmes run under the financial co-operation and MEDA agreements.

9.1.2.: EU regional policy and enlargement

In relation to the pre-accession funds we have to take a look on the EU regional policy

and enlargement, as there is a strong link between the financing obtained from EU in order to

prepare the accession process and the structural funds that will be provided after joining EU.

Article 158 of the Amsterdam Treaty states that, in order to strengthen economic and

social cohesion, the Community shall aim at reducing disparities between the levels of

development of the various regions and Article 159 provides for that action to be supportedthrough the Structural Funds, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the other existing

financial instruments. With accession, these articles will also apply to the Candidate Countries,

who will therefore become eligible for Structural support.

However, as the Heads of State at the Helsinki European Council in December 1999

emphasized,accession to the European Union is conditional on the compliance with the

Copenhagen membership criteria. These criteria specified that in order to be able to join the

EU, candidates must have the ability to take on the obligations of membership.

The EU's Regional Policy includes extensive decentralization (Member States implement

the Funds in partnership with regional, local communities and socio-economic partners) and

detailed requirements for control.

Therefore the Candidate Countries need to create the conditions for its integrationthrough the adjustment of its administrative structures, so that European Community

legislation transposed into national legislation is implemented effectively through appropriate

administrative and judicial structures.The Berlin Council of March 1999 drew up the financial framework for the period 2000-

2006 (Agenda 2000). This document indicates the resources available in each year from 2002-

2006 for the enlargement of the European Union, expressed in maximum allocations for (among

other budget lines) structural operations.

Thus it is obvious that pre-accession funds try to prepare the accession process of the

candidate countries, to support them in achieving the membership criteria and also to be better

prepared to use the Structural Funds after the accession.

9.1.3.: Actual situation of the pre-accession funds in Romania

As Romania joined the EU at 1st of January 2007, it has benefited already by pre-accession

funds, but the implementation of these funds continued after the accession as well.

Nowadays Romania receives no more pre-accession funds but it receives Structural Funds.

The mass-media and the public opinion in general, are uttering more often, referring

directly to our country, two syntagms: Structural Funds and absorption capacity. In

translation, it is about the money Romania would receive from European Union in order todevelop itself, to increase the economic competitiveness and to reduce disparities related to the
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states members of the European Union, to increase the employment of the labor force and to

reduce unemployment, to improve the life standards and to diminish poverty.

The budget for Romania for the current period has been already agreed, thus Romania

may receive up to30 billion in the period 2007-2013. To these amounts we should add the

funds we already knowPHARE ISPA, SAPARD, which Romania benefited of till in2009/2010, as effect of the lag between planning and their effective spending.

Note:

It is the so called rule "n+3", meaning that the amounts allocated in 2007 may be spent (and

reimbursed) till 2010 (in 3 years from the start of the project) in the case of Romania, Bulgaria

and the10 countries that have entered EU in 2004. For the 15 previous member states the rule

"n+2" is valid (2 years from the start of the project).

Without entering into details, all these instruments finance measures meant to ensure a

harmonious development of the EU member states, to reduce the differences in the development

of various regions and to enhance the competitiveness of the European economy. Within the

context of EU membership, Romania may take this chance of having an accelerateddevelopment, only under the condition of optimum absorption capacity of the European money.

This absorption capacity supposes the possibility to spend the European funds according to the

rules established for each financial instrument separately, by designing viable, sustainable and

lasting projects, which to be implemented in accordance with the European requirements.

It is almost a routine to publicly affirm that Romania has a reduced capacity of absorbing

the European funds. Reports of the European Commission concerning Romanias progress in the

accession process (2002-04), respectively in the Monitoring Comprehensive Report 2005, it is

shown that Romania had special problems regarding the administrative capacity.

The points of view are different when we refer to the causes of this reduced capacity.

Factors such as co-financing incapacity, inappropriate institutional framework, insufficient

training of the personnel within the organizations which design projects, etc. have beenemphasized. At a closer analysis, it may be noticed that all factors are linked, by different

aspects, tothe human resources involved in this process, either it is about the staff of the

ministries taking care of the planning for the Funds received from EU, or it is about those

competing to obtain financing or applying & implementing projects.

In a relatively recent study concerning the capacity of absorbing the European Funds,

realized by the Romanian Training Institute (Analysis of the capacity of absorbing the European

funds in Romania, available atwww.ier.ro), the evaluators have scored with Cthe human

resources involved in managing and planning the Funds, and respectively only with Dthe

human resources afferent to Funds implementation. Once this problem was admitted and

recognized, solutions must be searched for solving it, especially that Romania is supposed to

spend in the period 2007-2013 approximately28-30 bilion, an annual average of around 4 times

higher that the Funds received in 2006.

One of the most efficient solutions is (), systematic and professional training of the

persons involved in planning, managing and implementing the Structural Funds.

This especially because the rules and regulations concerning the utilization of the Structural

Funds in the period 2007-2013 are new for all European states, and Romania cannot import

examples anymore, as it did till now, being obliged to create/manage itself the framework for the

spending of the received Funds.

Note:

C = capacity yet insufficient, serious weaknesses which have to be solved;

D = insufficient capacity, a basis for managing the Structural Funds doesn not exist.
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Below there is a chart presenting the evolution of the pre-accession funds in Romania since

1992 up to 2007.

As one can see, the annual allocations from the European Union for the three financial

instruments (PHARE, ISPA, SAPARD), starting with the year 2000, represent the equivalent of

more than 25% of the total investments made from the national budget.

But what is the most important, as mentioned before, is that in Romania projects were

financed from the pre-accession funds till 2010 (see rule n+2).

9.2.: PHARE, ISPA and SAPARD Programmes

Enlargement is one of the greatest challenges facing the EU today. The process has

come a long way since the 1993 European Council in Copenhagen and is gathering momentum.

Each candidate country is linked into detailed procedures for moving towards accession and

wide-ranging technical and financial measures are available to assist in this task. Great

opportunities beckon for these countries, alongside the upheavals of change.

Expertise and finance are at the heart of the EUs approach. The Commissions work is

centered around the Single Framework for Accession; a unified procedure for bringing each

economy up to EU standards and preparing for the administrative requirements of accession.

Agenda 20001 included a strengthening of the pre-accession strategy, with more targeted support

towards the specific needs of each country and a larger budget for pre-accession assistance.

There are three forms of pre-accession assistance: PHARE, ISPA and SAPARD

In the case of Romania, the pre-accession assistance was meant to answer the reform

needs, in the view of accomplishing the criteria for joining European Union.


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Constant 2000 prices

Phare ISPA SAPARD

1587 M euro/year 1058 M euro/year 529 M euro/year

The main intervention fields of the pre-accession funds were:

PHARE Programme:

minorities reform of the public administration justice public finances agriculture and development environment protection border management economic and social cohesion trans-border cooperation and neighboring programmes

ISPA Programme: large investment projects for transports and environment

SAPARD Programme: investments in agriculture and rural development

9.2.1.: PHARE Programme

The PHARE Programme is currently one of the main channels for the European Union's

financial and technical co-operation with the countries of central and eastern Europe (CEECs),

besides SAPARD and ISPA.

Set up in 1990 in the wake of the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, the PHARE

Programme has been the main source of EU financial and technical support to the CEECs. This

remains the case, with a budget of 1.5 billion euro for the period 2000-2006.

Its fundamentalaim is "to help the candidate countries to prepare as well as possible for

joining the European Union".

PHARE Programme has threemain objectives:

- strengthening the public administration and its institutions, for making them to efficiently

functioning within the Union (institution building); 30 % of the budget is devoted to this task.- supporting the investment effort in order to align the industrial activities and the infrastructure

to the EU standards (investments for supporting the implementationof the acquis

communautaire);

- promoting the development of the regions less advanced (investments in economic and social

cohesion).

Investment support accounts for 70% of the budget and includes investments related to

institution building and in economic and social cohesion.

Since it was set up in 1989, it has adapted to the changing needs that arise out of the

process of adopting the acquis and as a result of this process, its activities now concentrate on

two main areas as emphasized above:

Institution building


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Investment support.

(a) The aim of institution building is to help the candidate countries lay down the institutional

foundations necessary for accession, which in the context of regional policy means that

administrative capacity and multi-annual planning need to be established. This is mainlyachieved through the Special Preparatory Programme for Structural Funds (SPP).

The Special Preparatory Programme for Structural Funds, which was introduced in 2000,

is one of a number of Phare multi-beneficiary programmes, meaning programmes which involve

several partner countries at a time, as opposed to national programmes that are agreed bilaterally

(such as co-financing of candidate countries' participation in Community programmes).

The programme concentrates on helping design the candidate countries' structural

policies, and on promoting an understanding of EU structural policy, as well as the development

of administrative structures and budgetary procedures necessary for the future implementation of

structural programmes. This is done through administrative co operation and technical

assistance.

One major element in this is the funding and support of "twinning" arrangements.Twinning places officials from Member States in the administration of Candidate

Countries for short, medium and long term assignments, to share their experience and

knowledge. This provides substantial support for those administrations in the form of people

with previous experience in the field of Structural Funds.

(b) Investment support

The adoption of the "acquis communautaire" also means that the Candidate Countries

have to adapt their enterprises and infrastructures to meet EU standards, which will require

considerable investment. PHARE therefore attributes 70% of its1.5 billion per year budget to

investment support, which is divided up in the following categories:

- investment in regulatory infrastructure: supports projects, supporting the supply of equipmentthat directly assists an institution to carry out its function;

- investment in Economic and Social Cohesion;

is designed in the first instance topilot / testthe institutional structures referred to above through

programmes focused on mitigating the economic and social costs of restructuring or complying

with the EU acquis in a particular industrial sector.

PHARE can provide only a tiny proportion of the funding needed. Instead it plays a key

role in catalyzing co-financing with and co-coordinating activities of the partner countries and

the international financial institutions (IFIs), such as the EBRD, the World Bank and to some

extend the European Investment Bank(EIB).

Some 35% of PHARE is invested into measures that are directed towards support of

Economic and Social Cohesion (ESC) in the Candidate Countries.

These are measures at the regional or national level that help to restructure difficult

industries and provide support to the development of new industries. The ESC funds are

distributed on the basis of National Development Plans (NDPs) or Preliminary NDPs, which are

drawn up by the Candidate Countries and approved by the Commission (each year a NDP is

adopted; its Memorandum for financing represents the legal basis for establishing the sectors and

sub-programs for financing, and also their budgets).

These are oriented towards the Programming Documents that Member States present in

the context of Structural Funds' programming. For the preparation of Structural Funds, the ESC

component of PHARE is therefore of particular importance, since it represents an important

exercise of programming and implementation of regional development in co-operation with theEU. This is intended to strengthen the Candidate Countries' programming and administrative
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capacities and therefore to contribute to the successful absorption of Structural Funds upon

accession.

However, PHARE is not the same as Structural Funds. There are some resulting

difficulties, next to the general problems one faces when helping Candidate Countries to prepare

for Structural Funds. The various problems and issues are highlighted in the Synthesis Paper.The paper has been discussed at a meeting of Pre-Accession Advisors (PAA's / 'Twinners') and

Candidate Country representatives on the 15th and 16th of March 2001 in Brussels.

Thus PHARE acts increasingly as a forerunner to the Structural Funds which will become

available to the new Member States on accession.

9.2.2.: ISPA Programme

ISPA Programmes finances Structural projects in Candidate Countries in the priority

fields of Environment and Transport Infrastructure. Through these projects, it not only supports

the development of the Candidate Countries, but at the same time it creates training for the

implementation of the Cohesion Fund after the accession.

Launched in 2000, having a role similar to the Cohesion Fund, ISPA Programme is one of

the three financial instruments (with PHARE and SAPARD) to assist the candidate countries in

the preparation for accession.

Itsobjectives were the following:

familiarising the candidate countries with the policies, procedures and the fundingprinciples of the EU

helping them catch up with EU environmental standards upgrading and expanding links with the trans-European transport networks.

For the period 2000-2006,1 040 million/year (at 1999 prices) has been made available

for this instrument. During its first four years of implementation (2000-2003), ISPA grant-aided

over 300 large-scale infrastructure investments in the 10 candidate countries of Central and

Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland,

Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia). Assistance amounted to7 billion for an investment value of over

11.6 billion (current prices).

After the EU enlargement in 2004, the remaining ISPA beneficiary countries were

Bulgaria and Romania, the other beneficiary countries having become eligible to the Cohesion

Fund. Since the 1st

of January 2005, Croatia benefits from ISPA as well.

The key areas financed by ISPA (transport and environment) are both essential for the

smooth running of the Single Market. ISPA will generally fund up to 75% of eligible public

expenditure, but in exceptional cases this may rise to 85%. With environmental projects,

particular emphasis will be given to upgrading standards for drinking water, water treatment,

solid waste management and air pollution.

Who can apply for ISPA grants - how are ISPA grants decided ?The candidate countries can propose, via the National ISPA Co-ordinator, projects in the

sectors eligible to ISPA.

The projects must be part of an ISPA sector investment plan adopted by the candidate

countries and endorsed by the Commission.

Applications must be sent to the ISPA directorate of DG Regio.
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The application will be examined by Commission services and (when necessary)

discussed with the applicant country.

When the Commission considers the project acceptable, she will submit the project for

opinion to the Management Committee, composed of representatives of the Member States.

After having received the positive opinion of the Management Committee theCommission will adopt the project and submit a Financing Memorandum for signature to the

applicant country.

Only applications received via the National Ispa Co-ordinator will be examined by the

Commission services.

Applications must be submitted by using the standard application forms and, where

appropriate, standard information sheets

Which are ISPA sectors receiving assistance?

1. The environment - bringing the applicants up to EU standards

2. Transport: expanding the trans-European transport networks

3. Technical assistance - directly related to the projects being funded

Which are the types of measures financed by ISPA?Following the pattern of the Cohesion Fund for which funding is granted on a project-by-

project basis, ISPA is funding the following type of measures:

Project: a project is an economically indivisible series of works for a precise technicalfunction and with identified objectives.

Stage of project: a technically and financially independent stage is a stage which can beidentified as operational in its own right.

Group of projects: projects meeting the following three conditions may be grouped:- they must be located in the same area or situated along the same transport corridor;

- they must be objective oriented under an overall plan for the area or corridor;- they must be supervised by a single body responsible for co-coordinating and

monitoring.

Projects must be of a high quality and of a sufficient scale to have a significant impact in

the field of environmental protection or in the improvement of transport networks.

To avoid disproportionate administrative burdens, projects need to have a minimum size

of5 million.

They must be in conformity with the national programmes for adopting the Community

acquis for transport or the environment, which form part of the Accession Partnerships. For the

purposes of ISPA, the candidate countries establish specific strategies for the sectors concerned

with a medium term planning horizon. Besides including general sector priorities, these

strategies identify the projects that are envisaged to be implemented with ISPA support,

including an overview of the financial resources needed for their implementation.

Who is responsible for the implementation of ISPA projects?The beneficiary countries are responsible for the implementation of projects receiving

ISPA grants. This means that they, while respecting the rules of the Commission, have to launch

call for tenders, to attribute contracts and to follow up the implementation. Commission's

services are at all stages consulted on the proceedings.

Contact points for ISPA programme:

ISPA directorate/unit in DG Regio

EC delegations in the candidate countries National ISPA Co-ordinators in the candidate countries
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9.2.3.: SAPARD Programme

The SAPARD programme enables the Community to provide financial and technical

assistance for agriculture and rural development in candidate countries as they prepare for EUaccession.

SAPARD will assist the implementation of the Community acquis and it will also

support measures to enhance efficiency and competitiveness in farming and the food industry

and create employment and sustainable economic development in rural areas. The programme

will have a budget of520 million (in 1999 money) per year until 2006. For Cyprus and Malta

the Council decided on a specific financial pre-accession programme.

In terms of its share of surface area, gross domestic product and above all employment,

agriculture plays a much greater role in many of the thirteen applicant countries (Bulgaria,

Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, the

Slovak Republic, Slovenia and Turkey) than in the present European Union.

Themain task in most applicant countries will be to reduce the serious over-reliance onagriculture and overcome the major socio-structural problems.

Since the intensification of the enlargement process in 1997, the pre-accession strategy

of the EU has been reinforced by Accession Partnerships, participation by candidates in

Community programmes and work carried out under the European Agreements. On 14 June

2000, the Agriculture Chapter of the acquis is formally opened for negotiation with Cyprus, the

Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia.

Preparation of farming and the agri-food industry for EU accession will hinge on the

development of workable markets and marketing channels, improving plant health and

veterinary standards and the development of agricultural administrative and control structures.

Measures relating to SAPARD are developing rapidly and SAPARD programmes

for all the ten candidate countries have recently been approved by the STAR Committee(Committee on agricultural structures and rural development) comprised of representatives

from the Member States later to be formally adopted by the Commission. The countries are

Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania,

Slovenia and Slovakia.

SAPARD is one element of the Pre-Accession Assistance available to candidate countries

and applies solely to theagriculture and rural development sector.

The SAPARD regulation, adopted in June 1999, provides the basis for Community

support for implementing the agricultural acquis and adapting the agricultural sector and rural

areas in candidate countries. SAPARD also marks a new dimension in the conferral of the

management of external aid on agencies in candidate countries, compared to other programmes

and is a unique type of programme which has not been used in previous enlargements of the EU.

Who can apply for SAPARD grants - how are SAPARD grants decided ?Unlike the PHARE programme, SAPARD is based ondecentralised management of aid.

The candidate countries must apply similar mechanisms to those required under

Community legislation for existing Member States in implementing the European Agricultural

Guidance and Guarantee Fund.

An essential element of the system is the implementation by the Commission of the ex-

post clearance of account control procedures applied currently in the Member States to

expenditure incurred under the EAGGF Guarantee section, which involves financial corrections.

The National Fund, which exists already in the various countries to implement PHAREassistance and headed by the National Authorizing Officer will act as Competent Authority to


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accredit a SAPARD agency.

A SAPARD agency must be accredited in each candidate country and the accreditation

verified by the Commission before any Community funds can be transferred to a country. The

National Fund is the body responsible for accrediting the SAPARD agency.

Each SAPARD agency comprises two elements: a Paying Agency;

an Implementing Agency.

The Implementing Body is responsible for such tasks as checking applications, carrying

out on-the-spot checks, issuing approval for work to commence and monitor the progress of

projects.

The Paying Agency is responsible for all financial procedures, including checking

payment claims and authorizing payments.

The SAPARD agency will have sole responsibility for selecting and managing projects,

arranging finance and carrying out controls. Payments by the SAPARD agency must be based on

expenditure incurred by beneficiaries. The community contribution is paid on the basis of the

total national public contribution.SAPARD - the single one of the three instruments whose implementation falls in the

responsibility of the national authorities - is based on the Multi-Annual Financing Programme,

negotiated between the EC and the candidate countries for the period 2000 - 2006. Each year, an

Annual Financing Agreement is signed, by which the allocated budget for the respective year is

established and by which the provisions of the Multi-Annual Financing Programme may be

modified.

The Commission adopted a communication on SAPARD financial management in

January 2000, outlining the principles of decentralization of management of external

aid to the candidate countries. These provisions were laid down in an implementing

Regulation adopted on 7 June 2000.SAPARD allows for the waiver of the need for Commission ex-ante approval for the

selection of individual projects and enables institutions in candidate countries to gain

valuable experience in the practical application of Community rules. This is essential

in running such a large number of relatively small projects, but it also reflects the

whole ethos of the enlargement process.

Which are the guiding priorities for SAPARD Programme?The SAPARD agencies will be faced with a huge diversity of development projects,

all seeking financial assistance for improving aspects of the agricultural sector.

Tough choices will have to be made to ensure the most needy sectors are covered and

that projects contribute to implementing the acquis rather than just solving current problems. In

its considerations the SAPARD agency must putthree priorities above all else.

1. Improving market efficiency, quality and health standards

2. Maintaining and creating jobs

3. Environmental protection

SAPARD meets the practical challenges of enlargement head on with a comprehensive

list of measures eligible for funding. Out of these measures will come many relatively small-

scale investment projects, each tailored to dealing with specific problems in their rural areas:

Investments in agricultural holdings Improving processing and marketing Improving structures for quality, veterinary and plant-health controls Agricultural production methods protecting environment and maintaining the countryside


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Economic diversification Setting up farm relief and farm management services Setting up producer groups Renovation and development of villages Land improvement and reparcelling Creating and updating land registers Improving vocational training Developing and improving rural infrastructure Water resources management Forestry measures Technical assistance

SAPARD supports the candidates countries in approaching the structural reform in the

agricultural sector and in other fields related to rural development, and also the implementation

of the acquis concerning the Common Agricultural Policy.

Romania has identifiedfour measures to be financed within this programme:

improving the activities of processing and commercializing the agricultural and fishery

products;

developing and improving the rural infrastructure;

developing the rural economy;

developing the human resources.

Which are the co-financing rules?All projects will be co-financed by the EU and the candidate country. The aim here is

to provide generous assistance while also engendering commitment and responsibility by thecandidate country.

The rules for co-financing distinguish between investments which are entirely public

sector funded and those which generate revenue of their own, generally those involving private

sector finance.

Out of all public financing, EU funding may reach a maximum of 75%, with a 25%

contribution from the candidate country.

9.3.: Practical example of PHARE project

Title:

ROMANIA on its way to European Integration: welcoming the acquis communautaire in

the judicial system

Project type : PHARE

Ref. no.: PHARE / 2003 / 064 - 759

Promoter/coordinator: Group for European Integration

Duration: 1 year

Actual stage: finished

Total value of the Contract: 44,632 EUR

Summary:

The project aims at taking concrete actions with regards to the judicial system, in order todirectly and effectively support Romanian efforts towards European Integration, and also in the


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view of strengthening the collaboration and exchange of information & good practices with its

neighbors, meaning with the accession countries trying to absorb acquis and to implement this

into the internal structures at different levels and extents.

Target groups :(a) persons having direct contact with and officially working for the European enlargement and

the integration process (representatives of authorities, public administration, politicians, policy

makers, decision takers, etc.);

(b) the large public composed by ordinary citizens needing to find out accurate and up-to-date

information about the implications, effects and potential benefits of the integration process.

The main activities to be achieved during the project are: 1 international conference, 1 seminar

and 1 info kiosk.

The project addresses to the first objective of the Small Projects Programme and to its second

priority for 2003.Thus, thegeneral objective(G.O.) is:

G.O.: To raise awareness on European integration and the Enlargement process both in

candidates and EU member countries participating in the project (Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary,

Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovenia, France, Italy, United Kingdom), in the view of a

better implementation and in order to increase the role of the judicial system in respecting the

human rights and values (including the rights of the minorities), the European values and the law

of democracy.

This general objective of the project focuses on the followingspecific objectives:

S.O.1.: To gather useful information and data referring to the European integration and to the

European Union's Enlargement.S.O.2.: To increase and facilitate access to knowledge, know-how and good practices in the

envisaged field for categories of public as large and divers as possible.

S.O.3.: To initiate in the candidate states participating in the project a consultation process on

Europe 's Enlargement in relation with the judiciary related themes.

S.O.4.: To effectively inform people and to draw their attention upon main targets within the

integration process, emphasizing what the Enlargement process means, which are the obligations

related to this and the freedoms resulting from it.

S.O.5.: To support by its actions and to deliver provisions for the implementation of acquis in

the field of judicial system.

S.O.6.: To join all together people in charge or having different responsibilities in order to

exchange information and to decide common future strategies and ways for the further

development and for speeding up the integration process .

Partnership:1. Group for European Integration - RO (as partner)2. Persons from Lithuania , Poland , Hungary , Bulgaria , Czech Republic , Italy and United

Kingdom (as collaborators)


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Bibliography:

Cum se lucreaz cu PHARE, ISPA i SAPARD (How can you work with PHARE, ISPA and

SAPARD),

http://www.primariatm.ro/resurse/pmt/541/text_pdf01.pdf

ISPA, PHARE and SAPARD,

http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/funds/ispa/enlarge_en.htm

EU regional policy and enlargement

http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/funds/ispa/enlarge/intro_en.htm

Structural Funds: The impact of the training upon the absorption capacity, Report by

Romanian Training Institute (Fondurile Structurale: Impactul training asupra capacitii de

absorbie, Raport al Institutului Romn de Training)

"Evolution of the pre-accession funds", Romanian Training Institute (Evoluia Fondurilor de Pre-

Aderare).

SAPARD: Special Pre-Accession Assistance for Agriculture and Rural Development,

http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/external/enlarge/back/sapard_en.pdf

Infoeuropa/Finanare

http://www.infoeuropa.ro/jsp/page.jsp?cid=82&lid=1

EU regional policy and enlargement - Support for candidate countries

http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/funds/ispa/enlarge/prepa_en.htm

Instrument for Structural Policies for Pre-Accession (ISPA),

http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/funds/ispa/ispa_en.htm

Introduction to the pre-accession strategy

http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/funds/ispa/intro_en.htm
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