Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA III)

14,16 billion

Accompanying candidate and potential candidate countries to EU membership

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DG / Responsible Agencies:NEAR | REGIO

Potential beneficiaries

Civil society and nongovernmental organizations, media, small and medium enterprises, vulnerable groups, scientists, artists, farmers and students, residing and/or active in EU candidate and potential candidate countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey).

Description and objectives

The Pre-Accession Assistance program (called IPA III, or the third edition of the Instrument for Pre-Accession) supports candidate and potential candidate countries in transforming their societies, legal systems and economies along the path to EU membership. It is an investment in the future of the EU, making Europe safer and more prosperous by supporting the stability and prosperity of its immediate neighbors.

EU membership requires close alignment with EU rules, standards, policies and practices politically, economically and administratively; which in turn requires ambitious political and economic reforms. IPA III supports this process by facilitating political, institutional, social and economic reforms, promoting sustainable socioeconomic development and bringing societies in the beneficiary countries closer to the values and standards of the European Union.

IPA III specifically intervenes in five thematic areas:

• Rule of law, democracy, respect for human rights, fundamental rights and international law, civil society, security and migration management, border management;
• Effectiveness of public administration, structural reforms and good governance;
• Alignment of rules, standards, policies and practices of beneficiary countries in line with those of the EU, good neighborly relations and strategic communication;
• Socioeconomic development, environmental protection, climate change resilience, low-carbon economy, digital economy and society, sustainable and inclusive growth;
• Territorial and cross-border cooperation.

Types of actions and projects

IPA III particularly supports actions in the field of technical assistance, capacity building, know-how transfer, infrastructure investments. These actions are managed either directly (European Commission and EU Delegations) or indirectly (national authorities of beneficiary countries, international organizations and member state agencies). They are implemented mainly through grants, procurement, budget support, contributions to EU trust funds and financial instruments, and guarantees. IPA III actions target a wide range of thematic priorities:

• Promote the proper functioning of the rule of law;
• Reforming public administration;
• Strengthening economic governance;
• Strengthen the capacity to prevent conflict, build peace and address crises;
• Strengthen the capacities of civil society, nongovernmental organizations and social partners;
• Promote the alignment of partner countries’ rules, standards, policies and practices;
• Strengthen access to and quality of education, training and lifelong learning at all levels and provide support for the cultural and creative sectors;
• Promoting quality employment and access to the labor market;
• Promote social protection and inclusion and combat poverty;
• Promote smart, sustainable, inclusive and safe transportation and remove bottlenecks in key network infrastructure;
• Improve the framework of private sector operation and business competitiveness;
• Improve access to digital technologies and services and strengthen research, technological development and innovation;
• Contributing to the security of the food supply;
• Protect and improve the quality of the environment;
• Improve the capacity and competitiveness of the agribusiness and fisheries sectors and their alignment with Union norms and standards.

Highlights

The operation of IPA III will be aligned with that of its predecessor (IPA II), seeking to improve its performance in terms of effectiveness and speed in the contracting and implementation of projects and consistency with the progress achieved by beneficiaries in the various intervention sectors.