Today, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted the second meeting to review the progress achieved under the joint programme of the European Union and Council of Europe “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey” (Horizontal Facility).

The implementation of the six Horizontal Facility actions in the country: Strengthening the protection of the rights of the sentenced persons; Enhancing human rights policing; Increasing judicial capacity to safeguard human rights and combat ill-treatment and impunity; Action against economic crime; Action on trafficking in human beings; and Action to support legal aid reforms were discussed. The total funding envelope for the six actions implemented in the country is 4.2 million euros. The meeting was opened by Mr. Igor Djundev, Horizontal Facility Beneficiary Co-ordinator, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Nicola Bertolini, Head of Co-operation, Delegation of the European Union, and Ms. Pilar Morales Fernandez-Shaw, Head of Department in the Office of the Directorate General of Programmes of the Council of Europe.

Discussing the second year of implementation of the programme, Mr. Djundev pointed out that the advanced stage of execution of the six actions under the Horizontal Facility supports beneficiary institutions in further implementing the European standards, which in turn assists the State in the EU integration process. “Beneficiaries continue highly appreciating such significant support”, Mr. Djundev reaffirmed. Mr. Bertolini mentioned the importance of focusing on supporting effective implementation to increase impact and results from now on. "It is time to swift from the development of new legislation and strategies to enforcement”, Mr. Nicola added. Ms. Morales Fernández-Shaw stated that the Horizontal Facility was overall successfully implemented and well adapted to support the country’s reform agenda so far. “Thanks to its result-oriented focus, the Horizontal Facility has been instrumental in addressing key reforms in compliance with European standards, notably in the areas of prison and police, fight against economic crime and trafficking in human beings as well as human rights implementation by justice actors” she said. She also welcomed the active use by the authorities of the “Expertise Co-ordination Mechanism” which provides ad hoc expert advice on legislative and policy issues.

Representatives of key beneficiary institutions attended the meeting, including representatives of the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Labour, the Justice Academy, the Constitutional Court, the Commission for Combatting Trafficking and Illegal Migration, the State Labour Inspectorate and the Financial Intelligence Unit, as well as representatives of the Secretariat for European Affairs.

Contact for media requests: Council of Europe, Programme office in Skopje, Irena Babushkovska; Delegation of the European Union, Konstantin Jovanovski. More information can be found on the Horizontal Facility website.