The third Steering Committee Meeting of the joint programme of the European Union and Council of Europe “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey”, will be held on Tuesday, 19 March 2019, at the Marriot Hotel, Skopje.

The meeting will take stock of the results of the Horizontal Facility programme in North Macedonia, with all of the Actions under this programme presenting their achievements, namely in the field of judiciary, prisons, anti-corruption and anti-discrimination. The total envelope for North Macedonia under the Horizontal Facility amounts to 3.8 million euros.

Press statements will be given at 10.00 in the press corner with addresses by:

• Mr Oliver Ristovski, Deputy Minister of Justice
• Mr Dusko Uzunovski, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Ms Nicola Bertolini, Head of Co-operation, Delegation of the European Union
• Ms Pilar Morales Fernandez Shaw, Head of the Programming Department, Office of the Directorate General of Programmes, Council of Europe

Actions under the Horizontal Facility in North Macedonia have achieved many notable results. Capacities of prison staff to interact with prisoners in line with high professional ethical standards and respect for human rights were enhanced and with the aim to combat ill-treatment of prisoners, the programme helped establish the Police External Oversight Mechanism concerning police work. Judges and prosecutors who attended tailor-made trainings now better understand how to apply certain provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights in domestic legal system. With the support of the programme, the authorities developed a strategic approach towards the fight against money laundering and counter-terrorism financing and 70% of the labour inspectors in the country were trained in human trafficking issues.

Participants will include representatives of the beneficiary institutions directly involved in the implementation of this joint programme of the European Union and Council of Europe, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, the Commission for Combatting Trafficking and Illegal Migration, the State Commission for Prevention of Corruption and the Financial Intelligence Unit, as well as representatives of the Secretariat for European Affairs.

Media are also welcome to attend the introductory speech and the Round table on “Horizontal Facility as a tool in the EU accession process: results and challenges”. The meeting will begin at 9.00am. Simultaneous interpretation will be provided.

Link to the programme of the meeting

For further information, please contact:
Dušan Vojnović  [email protected],  +33 3 90 21 56 99 or

Marija Simić  [email protected],  +381 63 60 13 37