EUROPEAN NEIGHBOURHOOD AND PARTENRSHIP INSTRUMENT (ENPI)

Financial support for European Neighbourhood Policy partner countries and Russia will be provided through a single, dedicated European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) as from 2007. The ENPI will be specifically designed to support the neighbourhood policy. All partners in the ENP, as well as Russia, will be eligible for support under this instrument which will replace current assistance programmes such as MEDA and TACIS in these countries.

The ENPI is part of a series of proposals for financial instruments to support the EU’s external relations, and which the Commission has submitted to Council and Parliament for the budgetary period 2007-2013. The aim of the package as a whole is to simplify the delivery of assistance, to facilitate coherence and consistency of external actions, and to achieve better and more with the resources available.

The ENPI is a policy-driven instrument that will operate in the framework of the existing bilateral agreements between the Community and the neighbouring countries. It will focus in particular on supporting the implementation of the European Neighbourhood Policy Action Plans. It will have a specific and innovative component catering for the specific needs of cross-border cooperation at the EU’s external borders. Its scope will thus go beyond promoting objectives such as sustainable development or fighting poverty to encompass for example considerable support for measures leading to progressive participation in the EU’s internal market. Legislative approximation, regulatory convergence and institution building will also be supported through mechanisms such as the exchange of experience, long term twinning arrangements with EU member states or participation in Community programmes and agencies.

In keeping with the priority attached to the European Neighbourhood Policy by the EU, the Commission has proposed that assistance to the countries concerned be increased significantly to €14.9 billion for 2007-2013, as compared to approximately €8.5 billion for 2000-2006.

The share-out of these funds between individual partner countries is not predetermined in the proposed regulation. If adopted by Council and Parliament, the regulation will constitute the legal basis for the subsequent allocation of assistance in multi-annual strategy papers for each country. In establishing country or multi-country programmes the Commission will determine the allocations of each programme taking into account the specific characteristics and the needs of the country or the region concerned, the level of ambition of the EU’s partnership with a given country as reflected in the respective European Neighbourhood Policy Action Plans, the management capacity and the potential for absorption of funds.

How will the new financial instrument ENPI support cross-border cooperation?

The basic aim of the European Neighbourhood Policy is to avoid new dividing lines on the European continent after enlargement. In order to support this strategic objective, the new European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI), applicable as of 2007, will have a specific focus on cross-border cooperation and intra-regional cooperation. The Commission has proposed a substantial increase in the funding for cross-border cooperation.

This innovative instrument will finance joint projects that bring together regions from EU Members States and partner countries sharing a common border. The ENPI will bring a radical simplification in procedures and substantial gains in efficiency compared to the present situation where joint projects across the EU’s external border need to be managed under different procedures for each side of the border. In the meantime, until 2006, so-called Neighbourhood Programmes have been introduced which improve coordination between different existing instruments supporting cross-border co-operation.

The ENPI will use an approach that has proved its usefulness in the management of the structural funds for regional development in the EU, based on multi-annual programming, partnership and co-financing. The cross-border cooperation component of the ENPI will be endowed with additional resources and co-financed on the EU-side of the border by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Detailed rules of operation will be developed. These implementing rules will include criteria and procedures for fund allocation, co-financing, preparation of joint programmes, joint project selection, technical and financial management of the assistance, financial control and audit, monitoring and evaluation, visibility and publicity.

What will become of MEDA and TACIS?

The MEDA and Tacis programmes will continue to operate until the end of 2006. For the 2007-2013 financial period, the Commission has proposed to Council and Parliament a simplification of financial instruments supporting the EU’s external relations. In this context, the Commission has proposed to replace the current financial assistance instruments for the countries concerned, mainly MEDA and TACIS, with a single, dedicated European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI). TACIS beneficiary countries in central Asia will be covered by a new Development Cooperation and Economic Cooperation Instrument.

Source: http://europa.eu.int/comm/world/enp/components_en.htm