Vigenin: The assistance of candidate countries for EU accession – in accordance with the needs and capacities of each country
„Assistance will no longer differentiate between candidate countries and potential candidates, but take due account of the needs and capacities of each country in order to indentify the appropriate mix of policy areas instead. We strongly oppose the inclusion of the stage reached in the formal accession process as a criterion for the initial financial allocations or as a criterion for additional rewards.“, Kristian Vigenin - MEP said today at the opening of conference, devoted to the the new Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance /IPA/ in Brussels. Among those attending, more than 400 guests, were representatives of the Western Balkans, Turkey and Iceland, EU`s member states, ambassadors, officials of the European institutions, NGOs and media.
Vigenin, who is a Rapporteur of the European parliament for IPA , outlined the main changes of the new Regulation and the positions which the European Parliament defends in the negotiations: the status of a candidate contry for EU accession should no longer be a criterion for financial assistance, stronger involvement of civil society in the candidate countries in the reform implementation, each country to be judged on its own merits, the idea for additional financial stimulus or a reward for best results, the need for greater visibility of results, achieved by Enlargement policy and IPA - both in the Enlargement countries and in the EU Member states. The MEP underlined the uneasy task of ensuring the balance between transparency, accountability, predictability, flexibility, and efficiency in the work of instutions.
“Enlargement policy has indeed been one of the most successful EU policies so far and we trust it to continue to be a driver for change in the Enlargement countries as well as a source of good results and good news, especially in times when Europe is in desperate need of good news.” Vigenin concluded.
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