Community Assistance for Reconstruction, Development, and Stabilisation
Encyclopedia
The CARDS programme, of Community Assistance for Reconstruction, Development and Stabilisation, is the EU's main instrument of financial assistance to the Western Balkans, covering specifically the countries of Croatia
, Bosnia and Herzegovina
, Serbia
, Montenegro
, Macedonia
, Kosovo
and Albania
. It was created in 2000 by Council Regulation 2666/2000. However it was only in 2001 that the programme became operative under its own regulations, as in the first period it supported projects previously funded by the PHARE
and OBNOVA programmes. The programme is the main financial instrument of EU's Stabilisation and Association process
(SAp). A total of €5.13 billion is secured for all CARDS actions during 2000-2006, as after that day it will be replaced by the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance
(IPA), which will cover both candidate and potential candidate countries.
based European Agency for Reconstruction
(EAR) while the rest of support follows a deconcentrated system as it is managed by the Commission's delegations to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania. The programme also has a regional component absorbing a 10% of total support, a rather innovative characteristic in comparison with past aid programmes, that underlines EU's emphasis on regional cooperation in the Western Balkans. Two major CARDS evaluations have been undertaken covering both parts of the programme namely the part under the CARDS regulation (Council Regulation 2666/2000) and the part under the EAR regulation (Council Regulation 2667/2000), which also suggested about the future of the Agency.
For each country a strategic framework is prepared in the Country Strategy Paper and Multiannual Indicative Programmes and annual action plans constitute the basis of programming. After the 2003 European Council of Thessaloniki and the approval of the "Thessaloniki agenda" with measures inspired from pre-accession "European Partnerships" were created with each country that constitute the foundation for the CARDS assistance. The programming period formally ends in 2006, but projects from the backlog of CARDS will probably continue to be funded in the new budgetary period (2007-2013) approximately until 2008.
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
, Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
, Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
, Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
and Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
. It was created in 2000 by Council Regulation 2666/2000. However it was only in 2001 that the programme became operative under its own regulations, as in the first period it supported projects previously funded by the PHARE
Phare
The Phare programme is one of the three pre-accession instruments financed by the European Union to assist the applicant countries of Central and Eastern Europe in their preparations for joining the European Union....
and OBNOVA programmes. The programme is the main financial instrument of EU's Stabilisation and Association process
Stabilisation and Association process
In talks with countries who have expressed a wish to join the European Union, the EU typically concludes Association Agreements in exchange for commitments to political, economic, trade, or human rights reform in that country...
(SAp). A total of €5.13 billion is secured for all CARDS actions during 2000-2006, as after that day it will be replaced by the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance
Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance
The Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance, or simply IPA, is a new funding mechanism of the European Union. As of 2007, it replaced previous programmes such as the PHARE programme and CARDS...
(IPA), which will cover both candidate and potential candidate countries.
Objectives
The main aim of the programme as its name implies is to support reconstruction, development and stabilization. However after an early focus on post-war and post-communist reconstruction much of the programme's attention has shifted to institution building projects. Its specified objectives are:- reconstruction, democratic stabilisation, reconciliation and the return of refugees
- institutional and legislative development, including harmonisation with European Union norms and approaches, to underpin democracy and the rule of law, human rights, civil society and the media, and the operation of a free market economy
- sustainable economic and social development, including structural reform
- promotion of closer relations and regional cooperation among countries and between them, the EU and the candidate countries of central Europe.
Management of the Programme
The responsibility for the programme has been transferred in 2005 from the External Relations to the Enlargement Directorate General. It has a dual management system as the part of the programme covering Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Macedonia is operated by the ThessalonikiThessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
based European Agency for Reconstruction
European Agency for Reconstruction
The European Agency for Reconstruction used to manage EU's main assistance programmes in Serbia, Kosovo , Montenegro and the Republic of Macedonia. The Agency was headquartered in Thessaloniki, Greece, with operational centres in Pristina , Belgrade , Podgorica and Skopje...
(EAR) while the rest of support follows a deconcentrated system as it is managed by the Commission's delegations to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania. The programme also has a regional component absorbing a 10% of total support, a rather innovative characteristic in comparison with past aid programmes, that underlines EU's emphasis on regional cooperation in the Western Balkans. Two major CARDS evaluations have been undertaken covering both parts of the programme namely the part under the CARDS regulation (Council Regulation 2666/2000) and the part under the EAR regulation (Council Regulation 2667/2000), which also suggested about the future of the Agency.
For each country a strategic framework is prepared in the Country Strategy Paper and Multiannual Indicative Programmes and annual action plans constitute the basis of programming. After the 2003 European Council of Thessaloniki and the approval of the "Thessaloniki agenda" with measures inspired from pre-accession "European Partnerships" were created with each country that constitute the foundation for the CARDS assistance. The programming period formally ends in 2006, but projects from the backlog of CARDS will probably continue to be funded in the new budgetary period (2007-2013) approximately until 2008.
External links
- European Commission, CARDS web pages
- The European Agency for Reconstruction
- European Commission CARDS financial statistics
- Social Institutions Support Programme (SISP)
- This article incorporates text from the CARDS page on the European Union web site. According to its copyright policy, reproduction is authorised, provided the source is acknowledged.