“EU 4 Municipalities” (EU4M), an EU funded project, held its fourth Steering Committee’s meeting to present an update on the project implementation, as well as the presentation of the applications selected in the Second Call for Proposals.
Some of the presentation’s highlights were the challenges that municipalities face, including opening a project specific bank account, co-financing and VAT reimbursement, which require cooperation from other government institutions, such as the Ministry of Finance, State Agency for Strategic Programming and Aid Coordination (SASPAC), etc., to facilitate the process.\
In her speech, Mrs. Marie Augouy, Programme Manager, at the same time co-chair of the Steering Committee and representative of the European Union Delegation to Albania, congratulated the progress of the “EU for Municipalities” Grant Scheme, emphasizing, among other things, the importance of youth engagement projects supported by the second call for project proposals. “Youth Empowerment is one of the priorities of the EU Delegation in the coming years, considering youth as the next generation, thus one of the pillars of the membership process”, said Mrs. Augouy.
Mrs. Adelina Farrici, Executive Director of the Association of Local Autonomy of Albania, emphasized the importance of capacity-building efforts supported by the EU4M Grant Scheme regarding proposal writing and project implementation skills.
During the meeting, the team leader of the “EU for Municipalities” project, Mr. Elton Stafa, presented the project implementation progress until October 2022. The presentation of selected applications of the second call proposal was an essential part of the meeting.
According to Mr. Stafa, the first payments for the municipalities have been delayed due to the lengthy bank account opening (2.5 months from the time of contracting). Only four municipalities have managed to open project specific bank accounts at this moment of the project implementation, so the relevant authorities should address this. Meanwhile, the five winning municipalities of the first call have submitted the procedures for receiving co-financing funds from the Albanian Government. SASPAC is proceeding with the paperwork and is cooperating with us in this process.
The General Director of the Agency for the Support of Local Self-Government, Arbër Skëndri, said that the upcoming elections (probably mid-May 2023) may affect the work to complete the investment, so some measures should be taken for good project management.
Jolanda Trebicka, from ‘Municipalities for Europe’ project team leader mentioned the efforts that this project had made in the last 3 years. Meanwhile SASPAC representative Ms. Evelina Visoci, explained the SASPAC function in this process, and assured that it will do its best to facilitate the co-financing and VAT reimbursement for the Grants beneficiary Municipalities for the EU4M Grant scheme.
At this fourth meeting of the Steering Committee, presented 13 selected projects, bringing the number of EU4M grants to 19, including infrastructure and local public services, local economic development, youth, culture and sport covered. The 19 grants represent a good balanced territorial coverage, with 1.1 million in the first call for proposals and 0.6 million in the second call for proposals.
