News article | 02-06-2023 | 09:50
On June 2, 2023, the Department of Finance released the Department of Finance Constituency Program 2022 Annual Report.
The constituency program is a technical cooperation program with the so-called constituency countries. These are countries that the Netherlands represents on the boards of the IMF, World Bank and EBRD, such as Moldova, Ukraine and Croatia. With this programme, the Netherlands intends to contribute to major public finance reforms in these countries.
War
2022 was the year of the Russian invasion of the constituency country Ukraine. The impact of the war on Ukraine is enormous. The war also caused great concern about Kyiv colleagues and experts who had to leave the country. The Netherlands is doing everything it can to help. In 2022, the constituency program therefore continued to support colleagues in Ukraine, despite the difficult circumstances.
In other countries of the constituency, the consequences of the war in Ukraine are also significant, for example due to rising food and energy prices. Just as I can Ukraine, the constituency program can also count on years of cooperation in these countries. This makes it possible to continue to offer activities to strengthen public finances and governance.
Candidate for EU membership
Over the past year, a number of countries in the constituency have taken the step towards joining the European Union, such as Ukraine, Moldova and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Georgia gained membership prospects. The constituency countries Montenegro and North Macedonia were already candidates. In order to meet the obligations of EU membership, they want to prepare well and have requested help from the constituency program in 2022.
The partners
The constituency program is mainly implemented by employees of the Ministry of Finance. In addition, partners in the Netherlands and abroad ensure that technical support can be provided. The National Academy, the Tax and Customs Administration, the National Audit Service, the Netherlands Court of Audit and Money Wise, as well as the OECD and the Center of Excellence in Finance in Slovenia, contributed in 2022. Last year, a collaboration with Rijkswaterstaat was also launched in the field of public-private partnerships.