TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PROJECT COMPLETED IN KOSOVO WITH THE ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION

To mark the end of a nearly five-year European Union (EU) technical assistance project in Kosovo, an EU-initiated roundtable was held in Pristina. It was attended by representatives of the authorities responsible for the implementation of the project, including experts from the Competition Council, the beneficiaries of the project – the Kosovo Competition Authority and the Kosovo State Aid Supervision Commission, EU representatives and other stakeholders.

The event, held on 25–26 January, aimed to evaluate the progress made in the areas of Kosovo's competition policy and state aid regulation, and to discuss the continuity of these achievements in the future. Participants addressed the progress made by the country in adopting regulations in the mentioned areas, with the Competition Council experts emphasising the importance of spreading a culture of competition. Representatives of Kosovo highlighted their commitment to continue aligning the country's legal acts with EU legislation and ensuring their effective implementation.  

Medeina Augustinavičienė, Deputy Chairperson of the Competition Council, said that the project involved sharing the experience of EU institutions in the areas of competition policy and state aid, reviewing Kosovo legislation and drafting amendments to it, providing significant methodological and practical assistance, as well as various types of training and seminar support not only to the experts of Kosovo's competition and state aid authorities, but also to the ministries, municipalities and judges. The project can be seen as a solid basis for bringing Kosovo's competition policy and state aid legal framework closer to the EU standards.

Since 2019, the Competition Council has been actively involved in the project by providing comprehensive assistance to its Kosovo counterparts in the development of the legal framework in the field of competition, by contributing to the drafting of new legislation, and by conducting in-depth trainings and seminars to enhance the capacity of the staff of Kosovo's competition authorities and to increase the dissemination of competition policy.

In August 2022, a study visit was organised in Lithuania, during which delegations from the Kosovo Competition Authority and the Kosovo State Aid Supervision Commission visited the Competition Council, familiarising themselves with the institution's activities and practices. The guests also visited other institutions, such as the Public Procurement Office, the Ministry of Economy and Innovation, the Innovation Agency, and the Central Project Management Agency.

The EU technical assistance project was implemented in collaboration with the Belgian company GOPA PACE (formerly known as B&S Europe). The project had a budget of € 2.9 million and was financed by the EU.