A closing event marked Thursday in Skopje the end of EU-funded twinning project 'Further strengthening of the organisational and institutional capacities for the EU integration process'.

The project was implemented by a consortium of three EU countries: Germany, Poland and Croatia, including experts from Bulgaria.

All countries, involved in the project, have offered their experiences related to various aspects of the functioning of the European Union, Vice-Premier for European Affairs Arbr Ademi said at the closing conference, commending the readiness of Germany, Poland and Croatia to convey their expertise to Macedonia's Secretariat for European Affairs and other institutions - direct beneficiaries of the project.

The results of such projects must not become a dead letter, but be incorporated in the policies of the government and institutions in order to be implemented in practice, said Jaromír Levícek, representative of the EU Delegation in Skopje.

Croatian, Polish Ambassadors Danijela Barisic and Jacek Multanowski respectively, and Marco Acquaticci, Deputy Head of Germany's Mission to Macedonia also addressed the event.

The total budget of the project is EUR 1.7 million. It lasted 22 months, namely from 11 January 2015 until 31 October 2016.

While the main beneficiary of this twinning project was the Secretariat for European Affairs, it also involved a number of other institutions, in particular the working committee for European integration and almost all working groups involved in the National programme for approximation of the acquis. Other institutions that had direct benefit from the project are the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Legislative Secretariat and the General Secretariat.

The project aimed to increase the capacity of the Secretariat for European Affairs for efficient inter-ministerial coordination of the EU integration process, based on the exchange of experience with the EU member states (twinning partners). This includes procedures for transposition of EU regulations (acquis), better management of the translation process, improved coordination and monitoring of the use of EU funds, and enhanced inter-ministerial communication among the key line institutions involved in the accession process.

The twinning project reviewed all documents transposing EU regulations, prepared in the past 10 years, in order to determine the level of country preparedness for all chapters of the acquis. It identified the areas where additional efforts will be needed. This exercise included 800 civil servants, members of the working groups involved in the National programme for approximation of the acquis.