There are 12 municipalities that have shown high performance in the field of energy, which will be allocated 7.7 million euros this year, announced the EU Ambassador to Kosovo, Aivo Orav. And the Director for Eastern Europe at “Helvetas”, Matthias Herr, said that strengthening local governance is of great importance for Kosovo.
Exactly 7.7 million euros will benefit 12 municipalities this year that have shown high performance in the field of energy, said the European Union Ambassador to Kosovo, Aivo Orav, on Wednesday.
Orav stated that local performance grants strengthen local-level governance.
“I think this is an opportunity to highlight why the EU has invested in this initiative, because municipal performance grants have proven to improve governance at the local level. They go beyond capital investments at the municipal level. The EU, together with Switzerland and Sweden, stresses the importance of fair treatment of all municipalities. All funds, provided by donors, should be transferred directly to municipalities. In this way, municipalities can manage resources in line with their priorities,” said Orav.
The director for Eastern Europe at “Helvetas”, Matthias Herr, considered strengthening local governance important for Kosovo’s European future.
“It is very important that strengthening local governance is not only an internal priority, but also essential for Kosovo’s European future. Strong transparency and accountability of municipalities are key to meeting many of the requirements of the EU accession process. Progress at the local level is progress for Kosovo as a whole on its path towards EU membership,” he said.
The municipalities benefiting from the municipal performance grant are: Dragash/Dragaš, Drenas/Drenas, Istog/Istog, Junik/Junik, Kaçanik/Kaçanik, Klina, Lipjan/Lipanj, Mamusha/Mamuša, South Mitrovica/Mitrovica, Partesh/Parteš, Prizren/Prizren and Suhareka/Suhareka.