1. Establishment aid coordination and management mechanisms
Government of the Republic of Montenegro Secretariat for European integration
Establishment aid coordination
and management mechanisms
in Montenegro
Ana Vukadinovic
Secretary of the Secretariat for EI
Regional conference Strengthening National Capacities for Efficient Management of External Assistance
14-15 May 2007
Podgorica, Montenegro

2. Effective use of EU assistance
Content:
Present stage of preparation in Montenegro
Activities which have been done
Further activities

3. Montenegrian European Integration Chronology
Zagreb Summit, November 2000
Consultative Task Force, 2001/02
Belgrade Agreement, March 2002
Constitutional Charter of the State Union, February 2003
Thessaloniki Agenda, June 2003
Law on Action Plan for Harmonisation of the Economic Systems of Member-States of The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, August 2003
Enhanced Permanent Dialogue, 2003
European Partnership, May 2004
Action Plan for European Partnership Implementation, December 2004
“Twin track” aproach, September 2004
Positive Feasibility report, April 2005
Stabilization and Assosiation Agrement negotaiations, October 2005
New European Partenrship, 2006
Negotiation on SAA with SCG stopped, May 2006
Referendum on Independency of Montenegro, May 2006
Direct negotiations on SAA continuing
New European Partnership, November 2006 for Intependent Montenegro
Finishing Negotiations on SAA, December 2006
Initialling the SAA, Mart 2007
Hope – By the end of German Presidency – official signing the SAA

4. Previous experience - CARDS
Centralized implementation system
Initiative and preparation of the projects - EAR and line institutions
Increasing role of the Ministry for International Economic Relations and European Integration:
MIP
AP 2005
AP 2006

5. Preparation for IPA programming
May 06 – Senior Programme Officers (SPO) have been appointed
May 06 - Training activities started
August 06 – NIPAC nominated - coordination and management on the policy level (programming of EU assistance, setting the priorities for the assistance, negotiations with the EC Delegation...).
August 06 – Governmental Commission for Coordination of Assistance Programmes established
October 06 – Montenegrin contribution for MIPD
- January 07 – Log-frames for annual programs prepared

6. Next steps…
- Strengthening of capacities of Montenegrin institutions for Programming for IPA– CARDS 2006,
- Seminars and expert support:
- Present Twinning project
- Capacity Development Programme Phase Two
- Creation of coordination mechanism for CBC,
Implementation of the Aid Management Platform,
Further preparation for DIS,
EAR mandate finishes by the end of 2008.

7. MIPD - priorities Political requirements
Judiciary and capacity building in PA
Sector policies
Agriculture and rural development and environment
Justice, freedom and security
IBM, fight organized crime
Internal market
Technical standards and rules

8. CARDS Montenegro 2002 - 2004 Sector 2002 2003 2004 Total
Building Institutions
Economic recovery
Civil Society
Other
Total

9. Trends

10. IPA MIFF 2007 -2009 (mil Euro) Component 2007 2008 2009 2007-2009
I. Transition assistance and Institution Building
27.5
28.1
28.6
84.2
II. Cross-Border Cooperation
3.9
4.5
4.7
13.1
Total
31.4
32.6
33.3
97.3

11. Changes of institutional set-up
September 06 – Elections
October 06 – New Government
Deputy Prime Minister for European integration - NIPAC
Secretariat for European Integration (Replaced previous Ministry) – Sector for Coordination of Foreign Assistance
May 07 – Governmental Commission for Coordination of European Integration (Replaced previous Commission for Assistance Programmes)

12. Next steps in 2007 Establishment of new structures for DIS/IPA
Competent Accrediting Officer (CAO) who should be a high-ranking official in the government or the state administration.
The National Fund which should be the central treasury entity within the Ministry of Finance through which the EU funds will be channelled towards beneficiaries.
The National Authorising Officer (NAO) who should lead the National Found and take the overall responsibility for the financial management of EU funds.
The Central Financing and Contracting Unit (CFCU) which should be the core body responsible for managing and implementing the projects in IPA components I, II, III and IV. Component V will have its own Operating Structure later.
An Audit Authority (AA) which should be responsible for verifying the effective and sound functioning of the management and control systems. This is a part of much broader Public Internal Finance Control (PIFC) Strategy development and implementation.

13. Next phases in the preparation for DIS
Set up phase: legal and physical establishment of the required institutional structures (NAO, NF, CFCU, etc…),
Gaps assessment: in-depth review of the institutional structures to identify the specific actions, changes and improvements needed to ensure compliance with them,
Gap filling phase: develop the procedures necessary to meet DIS requirements with special regard to the functions of programming, management, implementation, tendering, contracting, financial control, monitoring and evaluation and the related procedure manuals,
Compliance assessment phase: whether the target institutions have achieved the improvements necessary to satisfy the conditions of the relevant EU rules.
Preparation for Commission decision (verification audit by Commission Services): upon the official request by the NAO, verification by the Commission of the effective existence of the preconditions for DIS, followed by the authorisation to switch to the DIS.

14. Final goal