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Albania - Financial Assistance

Since 2007 Albania has received EU financial aid under the instrument for pre-accession assistance (IPA). (no need to mention it as the table is selfexplaining)

Here are some highlights of the EU's pre-accession assistance to Albania:

- Public administration: The EU is currently preparing the Albanian authorities for the decentralised management of EU assistance. The project helps establishing the necessary structures and functions to manage EU funds. Until now, all assistance has been managed by the Commission's delegation in Tirana. Decentralised management is one of the requirements linked to future EU accession. Several capacity-building projects account for more than € 2.5 millions.

- Justice and Home Affairs: The EU is providing technical assistance to the Albanian State Police in order to bring them closer to EU standards. With €5.5 million, the EU is supporting the police assistance mission of the European Community to Albania ("PAMECA III"), which aims to improve the performance of the Albanian state police structures and to improve the trust of the Albanian citizens into the police force. The project, which shall be implemented until 2011, continues in the light of previous programmes, PAMECA I & II. With €4 million, the EU is also supporting the management of the Albanian maritime border, to improve the cooperation between the agencies in charge of blue border management. Furthermore, €10 million of IPA assistance is spent to finalize the construction works of several detention and pre-detention facilities in Albania, aiming at strengthening the capacity of the Judicial and Penitentiary system in accordance with EU and international standards. The objective is to enhance the situation in the detention facilities in the country through decreasing the overcrowding and improving the detainees' and juvenile living conditions.

- Economic development: The EU supports Albania in maintaining sustainable growth and increasing the competitiveness of the private sector, as well as in providing a healthy business environment for investment and employment. €3.4 million are invested to enable Albania to develop a small and medium enterprises (SME) policy, which should in return allow the Albanian authorities to perform an entrepreneurship and innovation programme in support of SME growth and competitiveness. Moreover, the project brings industry-specific management expertise to SMEs and assists them to operate successfully and develop new business skills at the senior management level.

- Acquis communautaire: One of the biggest projects, which the EU supports, is the improvement of the health and environmental conditions along Albanian coastal regions via the construction of an adequate and sustainable water supply and sewerage infrastructure. Furthermore, its objective is to encourage economic growth through improved services. The local population will benefit directly in terms of safer drinking water supply and disposal of sewerage, while at the same time business should benefit from the increasing number of tourists due to the improved quality of the water infrastructure. The overall amount of several projects over the last years is €47 million.

Further examples of EU-assisted projects can be found on the selected projects webpage.

Annual or multi-annual programmes (depending on the component) are designed in accordance with the strategic MIPDs. They are adopted by the Commission following consultation with the beneficiary countries and other stakeholders. So far, they are implemented in Albania through a centralised management system by the EU delegation, under the responsability of the European Commision central service.

In the past, the EU has provided support to Albania under a variety of financial instruments, including Community Assistance for Reconstruction, Development and Stabilisation (CARDS).

Browse through IPA Programmes per component