Maja Kocijancic, spokeswoman for European Commission, said that Brussels is trimming about EUR 27 million from the IPA pre-accession assistance program for Macedonia, due to lack of preparations and planning in the areas these funds were allocated to. MIA correspondent in Brussels reports that the reduction in funding is also partly due to delays in implementing the urgent reform priorities that were part of the political agreement reached last year.
Kocijancic said that the European Commission has raised the issue of lack of planning and maturity in some key sectors and now also wants to point out the lack of dedication by the political parties in implementing the reforms. Kocijancic added that the political crisis in Macedonia has contributed to the lack of preparedness to plan for the reforms or to implement EU funded projects. IPA is the main funding instrument EU has in different programs in Macedonia, that include both infrastructure and administration capacity building.