Strategic Moves - Regional Environmental Center for Central and ...

The IPA comprises five components. The first two components — transition
assistance and institution building; and cross-border cooperation — are open to all
beneficiary countries. The other three components — regional development (transport,
environment and economic development); human resources development
(strengthening human capital and combating exclusion); and rural development
— require a high degree of financial administration capacity adapted to the EU
system and are therefore reserved for candidate countries. Community assistance
to cross-border cooperation under the IPA has been extended to cover the borders
between SEE countries and countries with adjacent EU member states. This assistance
was substantially increased for the period 2007 to 2011 as compared to previous
years (EC COM [2008] 127).
General observations
• The SEE countries have moved closer to EU membership in recent years as the
region has made progress, to varying degrees, in carrying out reforms and in
meeting the criteria and conditions established in the Stabilisation and Accession
Process.
• For SEE countries, the prospect of EU accession is the strongest driver of reform
and is a high priority on the national agenda. The pre-accession period provides
a unique window of opportunity for reforms throughout this process, as
the political will is relatively strong. It is a chance to develop human capacities
and to consolidate and strengthen institutions enabling them to implement the
EU environmental acquis.
• Lessons learnt from CEE show that early in the process emphasis should be
given to institutional and administrative reform and that precipitous and insufficiently
coordinated transposition may lead to non-integrated, unclear, complicated
and low-quality legislation.
• IPA financial assistance supports countries to introduce the necessary political,
economic and institutional reforms in line with EU requirements.
Infrastructure investment implications
of the EU directives
This section provides a brief overview of the EU environmental directives in
the water, waste and air sectors that are most relevant to environmental investments,
focusing on the changes that have taken place since 2005. The main implementation
and investment implications per sector are presented in tables. More
detailed information about the objectives, implementation and investment implications
are provided in the 2005 REC publication.
C H A P T E R 4
E C O N O M I C D E V E L O P M E N T A N D T H E E U A C C E S S I O N P R O C E S S
S T R AT E G I C M O V E S 79