2008-03-20 Money sweet in bitter EU process - Turkish Daily News

Money sweet in bitter EU process
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Currently there are 23 projects from MEDA program, 164 from the pre-accession assistance and the number exceeds 200 when adding IPA, says Ataç-Rösch. EU-released funds help capacity-building in Turkey, create employment for many and lead to transformation in every field

FULYA ÖZERKAN
ANKARA - Turkish Daily News

While Turkey's rocky journey toward the European Union continues amid long-running political sagas, the projects financed by the bloc's grant programs are healing many wounds and becoming the most visible positive face of the ongoing negotiations.
"More than 200 projects are underway today, whose contributions to Turkey cannot be measured in money," İnci Ataç-Rösch, director of economic and financial affairs at the Turkish Secretariat General for EU Affairs, told the Turkish Daily News in an exclusive interview.
She said EU funds should not merely be seen as banknotes because those funds, no matter how big they are, are nothing given Turkey's huge population.
"But their impact can be seen in every area," she said. The establishment of networks and an exchange of experts between Turkey and the EU, improving practical language skills and the employment opportunities created by the bloc's projects are among the pluses.
"In brief, the EU financial aid is helping capacity-building in Turkey," said Ataç-Rösch.
EU financial assistance to Turkey has been granted through various instruments over the years. Between 1999-2001, financial aid was allocated under the regional Euro-Mediterranean Partnership's MEDA program aimed at supporting the socio-economic development of Mediterranean countries.
Turkey obtained the right to utilize the bloc's pre-accession funds following the confirmation of its candidacy at the Helsinki Summit in 1999. The EU Commission-proposed Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) covering the new budget period between 2007-2013 aims at providing assistance to candidate and potential candidate countries and helping them strengthen democratic institutions and the rule of law, reform public administration, launch economic reforms, promote respect for human as well as minority rights and gender equality, support the development of civil society, advance regional cooperation and contribute to sustainable development and the reduction of poverty.
"Currently there are 23 projects that remain from the MEDA program, 164 from the pre-accession assistance and when adding IPA, the number of ongoing projects exceeds 200," said Ataç-Rösch.
She highlighted that Turkey gets the biggest share of IPA funds but warned that this should not be a reason to be happy because Turkey is a very big country in terms of size and population.
"The amount allocated for Macedonia and Turkey cannot be the same and therefore, it is not correct to make a comparison," she said.

No EU involvement after membership
Currently all the EU-funded programs are subject to the approval of the EU Commission Delegation to Turkey, not Brussels. This is known as Decentralized Implementation System (DIS).
Turkey, not the Commission itself, has been responsible for the implementation of EU-funded programs as part of the DIS while in the past Brussels was shouldering the entire burden.
But Ataç-Rösch said this system will be replaced by the Extended Decentralized Implementation System (EDIS) after full membership and that Turkey will spend the funds without any involvement from the Commission once it joins the bloc.

Confusion
In society there is confusion about the separate EU funding carried out in Turkey, said Ataç-Rösch.
The grants [grant programs] are unreturned and separate from the other programs, she explained.
"Whereas, the Community programs are not in the form of grants and candidate countries can join the pool only after financially contributing, a prerequisite for participation," she said.
Turkey gained the right to join the Community [framework] programs especially in the areas of research and education having become an official EU candidate country in 1999.
"Thirdly, there are the loans provided by the European Investment Bank and as it is understood they are not unreturned. For example, the price of compliance with the EU acquis in the field of environment is so high that it is not possible for Turkey to meet the cost alone. Thus, the loan mechanism steps in and helps the country's compliance with EU norms to a great extent," she said.
Monitoring mechanism a ‘must'
As for EU funds, Ataç-Rösch said the optimal use of financial aid must be Turkey's goal and that can be sustained by the establishment of a monitoring system, a mechanism Turkey already has to successfully implement projects.
Ambassador Oğuz Demiralp, secretary general of the EU Secretariat, is responsible for coordinating and monitoring the financial aid provided by the EU, while Treasury Undersecretary İbrahim Çanakçı acts as the national authorizing officer.
In fact, the number of projects reaches 1,500 when those implemented by nongovernmental organizations, professional chambers and small and medium sized enterprises under the small grants program are taken into account, said Ataç-Rösch.
"The funds must be effectively utilized without corruption or misuse. This is a serious responsibility but I can say that Turkey's performance in absorbing the EU funds is quite good compared to the new candidates," she said.
Rösch said a shortcoming in one or two projects would create negative repercussions that can be heard beyond the borders and that the EU Commission was carefully supervising how candidate countries were spending their money.
"The EU keeps an account of every single penny regardless of the size of the project," she said.
An independent "Interim Evaluation Team" assigned by the EU Commission in 2003 is responsible for making the annual assessment of all ongoing MEDA and pre-accession programs in Turkey.
"This team submits its annual reports to the Commission and gives marks on Turkey's performance in utilizing the funds," said Ataç-Rösch. She added that Turkey has so far attained good marks.
"The amount of funds allocated for Turkey is increasing parallel to the good marks and a negative report could turn this positive trend upside down," she warned.
The Commission is dispatching officials from the European Court of Auditors to Turkey as part of the mechanism to monitor the projects. Ataç-Rösch said the auditors scrutinized two or three projects on each of their visits.

‘Turkish firms can join tenders'
Praising Turkey's capacity to absorb EU funds, Ataç-Rösch said the amount of financial aid could increase over time.
"There is a need for some lobbying activities and also the private sector should take on responsibility. For example, they can participate in the tenders of the EU-funded programs not only in Turkey, but also in other candidate countries," she said.
"Of course, Turkish consulting companies should have experience and capital for this, but I believe there are such companies in Turkey. Turkish companies can join each and every tender funded by the EU."