The EU and the Council of Europe will continue to support reforms in the Western Balkans and Turkey in the fields of human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The continuation of the joint ‘Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey’ programme will be announced at a regional conference that will take place in Skopje, North Macedonia, on 9 October.
The second phase of the programme, worth €41 million, will run until 2022 and broaden the scope of the initiative, including for the first time topics such as freedom of expression and freedom of media. Overall, the new phase of the programme will focus on four over-arching thematic areas: ensuring justice, fighting corruption, economic crime and organised crime, promoting anti-discrimination and protecting the rights of vulnerable groups and freedom of expression and freedom of media.
The continuation of the programme builds on the successful first phase of the initiative, which ran from 2016 to 2019. The initiative has delivered a number of concrete results such as improved prison systems and more rights for inmates, more tolerant school environments as well as more effective anti-corruption laws and measures. In addition, the initiative has increased the efficiency of the justice systems and provided more equal opportunities for vulnerable groups.
In the upcoming three years, the programme aims to tackle the remaining challenges through flexible mechanisms that support authorities to address the Council of Europe’s monitoring and advisory bodies’ recommendations. In addition, a focus will be put on an increased exchange experiences and best practices to address common challenges for all the actors in the Western Balkans and Turkey.
Background
The Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey (Horizontal Facility II) 2019-2022 is a co-operation initiative of the European Union and Council of Europe with the Western Balkans region and Turkey. The programme supports tailored reform processes agreed with the authorities, in line with relevant Council of Europe monitoring and advisory bodies’ recommendations, in the fields of human rights, rule of law and democracy.
The programme enables the beneficiaries to meet their reform agendas and to comply with the European standards, including where relevant within the framework of the EU enlargement process. Tailor-made and demand-driven support is provided to further improve legal and policy frameworks and build institutional capacities, reinforcing the functioning of institutions. The programme aims at bringing substantial improvements directly to the lives of citizens through its actions.
