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About the ENPI

 
 
The European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument  – known as the ENPI – is the main financial mechanism through which assistance is given to the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) Partner Countries, as well as Russia. It is the cooperation instrument, managed by EuropeAid, through which decisions taken on a political level are turned into actions on the ground.
 
Operational since January 2007, the ENPI has replaced the MEDA instrument that was supporting the Euro-Med Partnership and the TACIS instrument for the Eastern neighbours, as well as other financial mechanisms.
This assistance aims at building relations, supporting the reform efforts undertaken by the partners themselves, and promoting the priorities agreed with each country after consultation with the governments and other actors. Assistance priorities can be found in numerous documents, including:
 
The overarching aim of the ENPI  is to create an area of shared values, stability and prosperity, enhanced cooperation and deeper economic and regional integration by covering a wide range of cooperation areas.
It is a more flexible and policy driven mechanism, as the allocation of funds depends on a country’s needs and absorption capacity and its level of implementation of agreed reforms.
The state of relations and documents for each partner country can be reached from here and for Russia here.  Reference documents can be found here and for Russia here.
 
 
The 16 ENPI Partner Countries are:
Russia is receiving funding from the ENPI even though relations with this neighbour country are not developed through the ENP, but through a strategic partnership covering four “common spaces”.
Libya has an observer status in the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership and is eligible for funding under the ENPI. Negotiations for an EU-Libya Framework Agreement got underway in November 2008.
 
 
According to the ENPI regulation, the objective of the ENPI is to provide Community assistance for the development of an area of prosperity and good neighbourliness involving the European Union and the partner countries and territories.
 
“Community assistance shall promote enhanced cooperation and progressive economic integration between the European Union and the partner countries and, in particular, the implementation of partnership and cooperation agreements, association agreements or other existing and future agreements. It shall also encourage partner countries’ efforts aimed at promoting good governance and equitable social and economic development.”
 
 
The overall allocation for the ENPI, which is increased compared to the past, amounts to almost €12 billion for the period 2007-2013.
The largest percentage of ENPI funds will be used for bilateral actions, that is country initiatives. Funds are also allocated to the two ENPI regions and regional and cross-border initiatives and mechanisms.
The amounts allocated for the two regions are:
  • For the ENPI South, funding of about €333 million has been earmarked for 2007-2010.
  • For the ENPI East, funding of €223 million has been earmarked for the period 2007 to 2010.
 
The ENPI innovative components and tools, giving substance to the EU aim of avoiding new dividing lines, are:
  • Cross Border Cooperation (CBC)under which it finances joint programmes bringing together regions of EU member states and partner countries sharing a common border. CBC is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Two types of programmes are established: bilateral programmes covering a common land border (or short sea crossing), and multilateral programmes covering a sea basin.
  • The Governance Facility which provides additional resources to those partners that have proved their will to carry forward essential reforms agreed in their Action Plans. An indicative €50 million per year have been set aside for this component.
  • The Twinning initiative and the TAIEX (Technical Assistance and Information Exchange) instrument which encourage cooperation between the public administration of a partner country and the equivalent institution of a member state, aiming to upgrade and modernize institutions in the beneficiary states.
 
In addition, the Neighbourhood Investment Facility (NIF) funds projects of common interest, focusing primarily on energy, environment and transport. The EC allocated €700 million to the Facility, for the period 2007-2013, and asked Member States to gradually match this contribution, to maximize the leverage of loans.
 
An Inter-Regional Programme (IRP) has also been established by EuropeAid to support partners in the ENPI Southern and Eastern regions, as it considers some aid activities can be managed more efficiently and flexibly at inter-regional level. Some €523.9 million have been set aside for the IRP for the period 2007-2010, that is an average of €131 million for each year.
 
In addition, the European Investment Bank assists the partner countries.
In the South, it does so through its Facility for Euro-Mediterranean Investment and Partnership (FEMIP), which brings together the whole range of services provided by the EIB to assist the economic development of the Mediterranean partner countries. FEMIP has invested more than €8.5bn in nine partner countries on the southern shore of the Mediterranean between October 2002 and December 2008.
In the East, the EIB has earmarked €3.7 billion for the partner countries for the period 2007-2013. 
 
Tenders under EC assistance programmes are open to interested parties from the EU Member States, the candidate and potential candidate countries and from the neighbourhood countries themselves, and are awarded in line with standard EC procurement rules.
 
 
EU cooperation with partners on a regional basis, as well as cooperation amongst the partners themselves, is considered by the EU as an important political objective. It complements national assistance programmes, addresses challenges with a regional dimension and promotes cooperation amongst partners on issues of mutual interest.
Issues such as protection of the environment, tackling sea pollution, enhancing the role of women, fighting organized crime and terrorism, are cross-cutting and have no borders. They can only be tackled through cooperation at a regional level. 
Priority areas for regional co-operation with the partners in the East are defined in the ENPI Eastern Regional Strategy Paper for 2007 to 2013, adopted by the European Commission in March 2007. Funding of €223 million has been earmarked for the period 2007 to 2010.
The main co-operation fields with the Eastern partners are: Transport; Energy; Sustainable management of natural resources; Border and migration management, the fight against transnational organized crime and customs; People-to-people activities; elimination of landmines, explosive remnants of war, small arms and light weapons.
The priority areas for regional co-operation with the South have been defined in the European Commission’s Regional Strategy Paper (2007-2013) and Regional Indicative Programme (2007-2010) for the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. Funding of about €333 million has been earmarked for 2007-2010.
The main cooperation fields with the South were defined since the start of the Euro-Med Partnership and the Barcelona declaration, and cover: Political and Security Dialogue (justice, freedom & security, migration, political dialogue); Economic and Financial Partnership (economy, energy, environment, information society, transport); Social, Cultural and Human Partnership (audiovisual & media, culture, education & training, gender issues, youth, civil society and local authorities).
 
The ENPI Info Centre has put together a glossary of terms used in the context of relations with the ENP/ENPI partner countries. An explanation of the term is given together with the link to where one can find more information.
 
More information about the EuroMed Partnership and the Union for the Mediterranean
More information about the EU and its Eastern Neighbours and the Eastern Partnership