Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: EU support for improving public administration has made limited progress so far
EU funding, provided as pre-accession support, to help the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia strengthen its administrative capacity has had an insufficient impact partly due to a lack of active backing from the national authorities, according to a new report from the European Court of Auditors. While EU-funded projects have generally been delivered as planned, they still need to be better targeted and prioritised, say the auditors. The report also concludes that in key areas, such as the fight against corruption and public procurement, the national authorities should make better use of the benefits created with EU funds.
Between 2007 and 2013, the EU allocated €615 million under the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) to help the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia prepare for accession to the EU. The country received additional financial support under regional programmes also provided to other enlargement countries. EU support for reform in the country is continuing under IPA II, with an allocation of €664 million from 2014 to 2020.
The auditors examined projects aimed at strengthening national administration across three major sectors: public administration reform (11 % of total assistance), transport (18 %) and environment (16 %). Although building up the country’s administrative capacity was made a priority, the auditors found that relatively limited progress had been made in the audited areas.
In the transport and environment sectors, few of the audited projects addressed key capacity-building needs required to align national legislation with EU law. Investment in infrastructure was not accompanied by enough activities to successfully promote “learning by doing”.
Many of the projects audited did not sufficiently fit into a coherent, cohesive and coordinated approach or were not adequately followed up. Another challenge facing the Commission is determining how to bring down the minimum of four years it currently takes to deliver results once assistance needs have been identified.
The Commission decentralised the management of 76 % of IPA funds to the national administration and supported the structures to manage them. To an extent, this has improved national capacity to manage EU funds. However, the Commission could do more in terms of promoting the good practices established in other parts of the national administration.
The mechanisms for political dialogue were well-suited to supporting reform. However, the Commission’s leverage to encourage reform in sensitive areas was greatly reduced in the absence of the framework provided by accession negotiations.
“EU support for strengthening the administrative capacity in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia must be correctly prioritised and based on a solid national commitment for it to have the intended impact”, said Hans Gustaf Wessberg, the Member of the European Court of Auditors responsible for the report.
The auditors recommend that the Commission:
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•concentrate its assistance for strengthening administrative capacity on ranked priorities that take account of significant weaknesses in key areas such as those identified in the report;
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•intensify efforts to strengthen administrative capacity when investing in the transport and environment sectors;
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•make better use of policy instruments to reinforce the national authorities’ commitment to the reform process;
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•better target projects by sequencing them as part of a coherent approach towards achieving reform objectives;
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•encourage the national authorities to extend examples of good practice developed during the decentralised management of EU funds;
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•take advantage of the current opportunity for reform to secure a commitment to strengthening administrative capacity.
Press release: Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: EU support for improving public administration has made limited progress so far, say auditors
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