EAR's task is to manage the European Union's main assistance programmes in the Republic of Serbia (including UN-administered Kosovo), the Republic of Montenegro and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
The agency was established in February 2000 as the EU's main reconstruction arm in war-damaged Kosovo and later expanded to Serbia, Montenegro and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The agency's headquarters is in Thessaloniki, Greece. It has operational centres in Pristina, Belgrade, Podgorica and Skopje.
An independent agency of the European Union, EAR is accountable to the Council and the European Parliament and overseen by a Governing Board composed of representatives from the 25 EU Member States and the European Commission.
The EC assistance funds delegated to the Agency for management in 2005 amounted to some €282 million. Since 2000, the Agency has managed a cumulative total of some €2.6 billion of EU taxpayers' money across its four operational centres.
The new European Commission-funded programmes managed by the Agency are designed to support good governance, institution building and the rule of law as well the development of a market economy while investing further in critical physical infrastructure and environmental protection. They also focus on social development and the strengthening of civil society.
The purpose of these efforts is to reinforce the region's own reform processes by strengthening the 'state machinery' of central and local administration, the police, the judiciary, public finances, and state utility providers.
The Agency' works within the CARDS Programme, a wider European Union commitment which also includes Albania , Bosnia & Herzegovina and Croatia. This - in turn - is part of the EU's 'Stabilisation and Association' process - a key element of the Union's policy toward the region scarred by years of conflict.
Serbia, Montenegro and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia also benefit from European Commission assistance not managed by the Agency. This includes macro-financial, humanitarian, democratisation, customs and fiscal planning aid, support for higher education cooperation programmes, a Western Balkans' regional programme, and support for the European Union Pillar of the UN administration in Kosovo. The region also benefits from bilateral contributions made by EU Member States.
An independent Evaluation on the work of the European Agency for Reconstruction was published on 4th June, 2004. The Evaluation highly commends the Agency's role in delivering EC assistance in Serbia, Montenegro, UN-administered Kosovo, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. It also suggests ways in which the Agency can improve its work, particularly given its shift away from reconstruction towards projects of a more ‘institutional' and reform-based nature. On the basis of the Evaluation, the European Commission recommended to the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament that the Agency's mandate be extended. Simultaneously, the Commission has published a further Evaluation on the CARDS Programme of EC assistance to Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.