‘Pre-accession assistance as a mechanism of Europeanisation: the effects of CARDS/IPA on

administrative capacity in Croatia’

Eleftherios AntonopoulosPhD student, UACES scholar, European Policies Research Centre, University of

Strathclyde

Source: European Communities, Regional Cooperation in the Western Balkans, 2005

Europeanisation• What is Europeanisation?

– The domestic impact of Europe– A two way (top-down, bottom-up) process (Börzel 2002).

Other definitions (Risse 2001; Radaelli 2003; Bache 2008).• Does Europeanisation theory apply in the following

cases:– Public Administration (Olsen 2003; Trondal 2007; Knill

2004; Goetz 2001; Esmark 2008)– Enlargement, CEECs Western Balkans and Croatia

(Schimmelfenig, Sedelmeier, Dimitrova)– Pre-accession financial assistance (Grabbe 2003; Hughes,

Sasse and Gordon 2005)

Europeanisation and domestic change

Source: Caporaso (in Vink and Graziano 2008:28)

Europeanisation’s influence on administrative capacity

• Administrative capacity (Dimitrova 2002)– Absorption capacity (Molle 2007: 196; Hughes, Sasse,

Gordon 2005:23)– Administrative absorption capacity (ibid.)

• Sectoral, horizontal, capacity to implement the acquis.

• Disaggregation for measurement– Structures– Human and financial resources– Systems and tools (based on NEI/ECORYS 2002)

Research design• Qualitative desk research and fieldwork with use of

available quantitative data for triangulation.• Case study: Croatia (time and budget constraints, first in

the queue for membership)• 30 Semi-structured interviews with policy-makers,

academics and consultants.• Convenience sampling, snowball-chain referral sampling. • Process tracing: post 2000 EU-WB and EU-Croatia relations,

strategy, policy, programme, project, documents, regulations, laws, evaluation reports (EU & Croatian documents) and interview transcripts.

• Budget: UACES fieldwork grant 2009

Assessing administrative capacity building under CARDS/PHARE/IPA Instrument Goodness of fit/

institutional misfitAdaptational pressure

CARDS (2000-2004 in Croatia)

Initially centralised and focusing on postwar reconstruction

Limited pressure related to the project-based model.

Misfit on the eve of decentralisation of assistance to Croatia

High in the case of the CFCU/Ministry of Finance. Medium in general

PHARE (2005-2006) Similar management with later phase of CARDS therefore similar degree of fit/misfit

High in the case of the CFCU/Ministry of Finance and later CFCA.

IPA (2007-2013) Institutional misfit particularly in relation to components II-IV

High pressure in the case of the line ministries, coordination authority, operational structures etc.

Cohesion Policy and Structural Instruments (future)

Institutional misfit. Better chances of goodness of fit if administrative capacity is improved through the influence of IPA.

Very high but potential pressure at the sectoral level depends on the successful implementation of IPA.

CARDS allocations to Croatia

Sector[1] 2001 2002 2003 2004 TOTAL

JUSTICE & HOME AFFAIRS 14.1 10.0 12.0 26.85 57.95

ADMINISTRATIVE CAPACITY BUILDING

2.5 12.0 11.8 15.1 41.4

ECONOMIC & SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

15.4 18.0 17.5 17.75 68.65

ENVIRONMENT, NATURAL RESOURCES

3.8 3.0 3.7 3.8 14.3

DEMOCRATIC STABILISATION 24.2 16.0 17.0 17.5 74.7

TOTAL ALLOCATION 60 59.0 62.0 81 257.0

[1] The table is available online at http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/how-does-it-work/financial-assistance/cards/statistics2000-2006_en.htm#1

CARDS allocations to Croatia

IPA allocations to CroatiaComponent 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Transition Assistance and Institution Building 49,6 45,3 45,6 39,4 39,9 40,8

Cross-border Co-operation 9,6 14,7 15,8 16,2 16,5 16,8

Regional Development 45,0 47,6 49,7 56,8 58,2 59,3

Human Resources Development 11,3 12,7 14,2 15,7 16,0 16,0

Rural Development 25,5 25,6 25,8 26,0 26,5 27,2

TOTAL 141,2 146,0 151,2 154,2 157,2 160,4

Source: DG Enlargement website http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/candidate-countries/croatia/financial-assistance/index_en.htm

CARDS StructuresCompetent

bodies

The National Aid

Coordinator (for EU

assistance) (NAC)

The state secretary in charge of CODEF.

The National

Authorising Officer

(NAO

A state secretary in the Ministry of Finance

heading the National Fund (NF).

Senior Programme

Officer (SPO)

An official in a line ministry/agency in charge of

technical implementation, Project

Implementation Units (PIU) are answerable to

him.

Implementi

ng Agencies

The Central Financing and Contracting Unit

(CFCU) is headed by the Programme Authorising

Officer (PAO).

Other within ministries.

Final

beneficiarie

s

Bodies of central administration, regional and

local self-government, public institutions, civil

society.

European

Commission

European Commission central services

European Commission Delegation

IPA Structures

Source: European Funds for Croatian Projects. A handbook on Financial Cooperation and European Union Supported programmes in Croatia, CODEF, Zagreb 2009.

Summary & Conclusion

• Conceptual issues of Europeanisation and administrative capacity.

• Research methodology and design.• The cases of CARDS and IPA in Croatia• Some early results based on the fieldwork,

show a differentiated, mixed picture of Europeanisation in the fields of Pre-accession assistance and preparation for Cohesion Policy.