1. Croatian experiences in establishing new modes of governance through the EU Neighbourhood Programme Slovenia-Hungary-Croatia Irena Đokić, Institute of Economics, Zagreb Marijana Sumpor, Institute of Economics, Zagreb

2. 2 What is the EU Neighbourhood Programme about?

3. 3 How is it related to multi-level governance?  EU – Programme, money, goal and decision making power - learn about Croatia’s ability to handle the EU  Croatian national level - learn from the neighbours about managing EU programmes and adapt national procedures through CBC experience  Croatian local level – learning from the neighbours through preparation of joint project proposals

4. 4 Eligible area of the NP SI-HU-HR

5. 5 PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION STRUCTURES ERDFCARDS → PHARE Managing Authority NARD Slovenia (both calls), Government Office for Local Self-Government and Regional Policy (as from 1st January 2006) Paying Authority Ministry of Finance, Slovenia Contracting Authority In the first Call, ECD; in the future Ministry of Finance (CFCU) with ex-ante control of the ECD National Authority National Office for Regional Development (NORD), Hungary Programme Co-ordination Unit Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Intermediate Body & Sub-paying Authority VATI, Hungary

6. 6 JOINT PROGRAMME BODIES  MONITORING COMMITTEE strategic management and supervision of the programme 11 members per each country  JOINT SELECTION COMMITTEE selection and monitoring of projects 10 members per each country  JOINT TECHNICAL SECRETARIAT administrative support to MA/NA and IBs 1 member from each country located in Slovenia 2 Info Points in HU and 1 Info Point in HR

7. 7 SELECTION CRITERIA PHASE 1: PRE-EVALUATION CRITERIA A. Administrative Compliance B. Eligibility C. Quality PHASE 2: JOINT SELECTION CRITERIA D. Cross-border co-operation E. Cross-border impact F. Impact on horizontal EU policies

8. 8 SELECTION PROCEDURE  The Selection process is organised by the JTS and executed by: 1.INTERMEDIATE BODIES (SI-HU-HR) for assessing A. and B. 2.Sub-groups of ASSESSORS (nominated and contracted) per each country (language) by each IB for assessing C.- F. 3.TRILATERAL WORKING GROUP composed of all sub- groups of assessors to set up a joint recommended list of projects 4.ECD – list of recommended projects for comments 5.JOINT SELECTION COMMITTEE- takes the final decision on the final ranking list

9. 9 First NP experiences in Croatia  Socio-cultural differences within Croatia were visible through the extent and quality of submitted proposals as well as their success in the selection procedure: Istria used coordination of project proposals on county level to submit projects of best quality North-western counties showed great interest and submitted significant number of project proposals Slavonian counties showed lower interest and capacity in preparing sound and coherent project proposals

10. 10 First visible positive aspects of the NP SLO-HU-CRO  grant scheme is understandably appealing covers a relatively wide range of objectives  new modes of financing are introduced - direct link between domestic financing and grant schemes  good quality of project proposals existing cross-border contacts have been used and strengthened Slovenian previous experiences in NP Austria-Italy- Slovenia contributed positively to the preparation and implementation of the new NP faster transfer of know-how is enabled

11. 11 First visible governance problems with the new NP  differences in administrative procedures trilateral programme with different sources of financing (SF and CARDS)  language barriers (Croatian-Hungarian) official languages for proposals were different: for Croatian proposals – English, for Hungarian and Slovenian proposals – native language  information flow and accessibility of information counties were informed and were supposed to disseminate information, which they have done on a selective basis (e.g. invitations to preparatory workshops) – this influenced the quality and later selection of proposals in certain counties

12. 12 First visible governance problems with the new NP – cont.  weak administrative capacity on National level the capacity of MFAEI has directly influenced the initiation and implementation of the programme due to insufficient human resources dedicated to the NP in MFAEI  difficulties in developing new administrative procedures between EC Delegation and MFAEI relationship between the Contracting Authority and Intermediate body is not clear

13. 13 Capacity on national level  insufficient administrative and organisational capacity is devoted to the new funding schemes ISPA will be coordinated by 1+2 persons, managed on ministerial level, primarily big projects CBC programme targets smaller projects and a larger number of beneficiaries is involved in the project – therefore, organisationally more staff is required  institutional problems M(FA)EI is a transitory institution that lost the status of an independent ministry, lacks the necessary institutional stability and professional staff

14. 14 Capacity on local level  surprising capacity on local level though grant schemes relatively late introduced in Croatia  earlier contributions of International donor organizations through the development of the civil society sector specific know-how concerning preparation of project proposals and project management techniques has been developed  contribution of experienced people from civil society organizations capacity for project proposals exists on local level and can be used for EU grant schemes

15. 15 Next steps and considerations  establishment of a monitoring and evaluation system necessary for the improvement of transparency and better functioning of the public administration on all levels of government  dissemination of gained knowledge on national level other national institutions need to be more involved in implementing EU grant schemes learning by doing  administrative capacity in managing EU Programmes will increase through learning by doing

16. 16 Conclusion: Socio-developmental impacts of new modes of governance based on the NP  NP contributes to the establishment of important socio-developmental preconditions through joint-project proposal preparation requires inter- institutional communication (partner search) and initiation of inter-institutional cooperation (project proposal preparation) successful project proposals result in inter-institutional collaboration through the joint implementation of the project which is fundamental to the creation and development of a network society and building of social capital across the European space...