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Contributions from
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InWEnt News
Development prospects for the north-east
To Europe with Germany’s support
Reporting on developing
countries needs modifying
02/2005 |
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[ New EU member states ]
To Europe with Germany’s support
On behalf of the Federal Government, InWEnt Capacity Building International is supporting new member countries of the European Union (EU) by organising training courses, internships and exchange of experience. Initially, the focus was on the states in Central and Eastern Europe that became EU members last year. InWEnt’s activities are now concentrating on Romania and the western Balkan states.
[ By Klaus Althoff and Christine de Barros Said ]
The integration of the nations of Central and Southeast Europe into the EU has been the community’s most ambitious enlargement project to date. On 1 May 2004, an important milestone was reached when eight transition countries of Central and Eastern Europe joined the community: Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the three Baltic states and Slovenia. The Federal Republic of Germany had actively supported them in the EU accession process beforehand. On behalf of the German Foreign Office, the Carl Duisberg Gesellschaft (one precursor of InWEnt), had begun training civil servants in Central and Eastern Europe on EU issues back in 1995.
In the year 2000, as part of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, these activities were expanded to Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina. These programmes were implemented in cooperation with the Institute for European Politics in Berlin as the German specialist partner.
Multiplier training as the main focus
One central focus of the work is establishing multiplier groups – mainly at administrative schools of the countries involved. The aim is to train EU trainers who have the necessary know-how and appropriate material, so they, in turn, can independently train civil servants of their country in EU issues. Today, such trainer pools exist in 14 countries. They have conducted a number of training courses and are still in operation. Meanwhile, the EU trainers are part of a regional network, where, for example, Croatian trainers pass on their knowledge to colleagues from Albania. The individual trainer groups are in contact with one another online, via their own Internet portal, the European Training Portal.
Since 1995, civil servants of the accession candidates have also been doing internships in the departments of German ministries. They thereby gain practical insights into the procedures of German administration and establish a constant exchange of information and experiences with their German partners. Contacts are made and are used intensively to solve problems at the working level, because often giving colleagues with EU experience a ring can provide answers more quickly than prolonged file study.
InWEnt also offers tailor-made diplomacy training to countries that are already negotiating with the European Commission about joining. The aim is to prepare civil servants involved for accession negotiations in terms of content, procedure and process: What are the specific requirements of the accession negotiations with the European Union? Where do the specific problems lie in the case of the respective country? These are the key questions tackled with German help.
The next candidates: Bulgaria and Romania
After the first accession wave in May 2004, Bulgaria and Romania are the next candidates to make the great leap. The negotiations with both countries were concluded in 2004. Romania was given a reminder about conditions and more reforms. However, the EU confirmed the accession date of January 2007. On behalf of the Foreign Office and the German Development Ministry (BMZ), InWEnt is now especially supporting Romania in the accession process.
The Romanian government asked Germany for help with this difficult process back in 2003. As a result, InWEnt developed a comprehensive three-year project, which aims to familiarise the central administrative level of Romania with EU structures. Supported by the BMZ, the project began in June 2004 in Bucharest, in the presence of the EU enlargement commissioner, Günther Verheugen, and the German ambassador. InWEnt is seeing the project through in cooperation with the Institute for European Politics in Berlin.
The project was divided into four components, in order to meet the specific needs of the various Romanian partners: A special programme, “negotiations training”, provided specific specialist qualifications for the members of the Romanian negotiation team under the central administration of the Ministry for European Integration at the remainder of the negotiations with the EU in 2004. These components were concluded successfully.
Courses for different target groups
Another component includes the training and further education of Romanian diplomats in EU matters, training for the preparation of the accession for higher Foreign Office officials and specific topics of the common foreign and security policy. It is very important to have a sound knowledge of the EU, its organs and its specific policy structuring, particularly for the diplomatic corps.
The goal of the third component – the further education of the Romanian central administration in EU matters – is to pass on the core knowledge in EU issues to the greatest possible number of higher-ranking officials, and in doing so, to clarify the procedural character of the integration process in view of multilateral and supranational complexilies. The “Train the trainer” programme is of great significance for the sustainability of the project. It gives local lecturers and trainers the necessary knowledge about the European Union. They should become qualified enough to be able to independently implement measures on EU-related topics later on.
This is important for the further spread of information – at the central level, initially, and later also at the regional and local levels. The Romanian trainer group is also integrated in the European Training Portal.
The last two components are implemented in conjunction with the Romanian Institute of National Administration (INA). InWEnt is also supporting the Institute with other projects. The project is designed to run until the end of 2006, which means all the spare time from now until Romania's accession to the EU can be utilised. Until then, there are still plenty of tasks for Romania to tackle.
The “Europe of 25” represents only one historic step in the development of the community of states; it also reflects the successes of German ministries in supporting their partners in the enlargement process. The development is not over yet. In 2005, negotiations will begin with Croatia and other states of South-Eastern Europe want to follow as soon as possible. Finally, the integration of Turkey has been relegated to a period of ten to fifteen years from now. First talks have already taken place. InWEnt is prepared to accompany the next candidates on their way to Europe.
Klaus Althoff
is a project leader in the InWEnt division Central and Eastern Europe, Near and Middle East.
klaus.althoff@inwent.org
Christine de Barros Said
is a project leader in the division Promotion of Democracy/Administrative Reforms and is the InWEnt country coordinator for Romania.
christine.de.barros.said@inwent.org
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