IPA

Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA)

From January 2007 onwards, the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) replaces a series of European Union programmes and financial instruments for candidate countries or potential candidate countries, namely PHARE, PHARE CBC, ISPA, SAPARD, CARDS and the financial instrument for Turkey.

The IPA is made up of five different strands:

Assistance for transition and institution building;
Cross-border cooperation (with EU Member States and other countries eligible for IPA);
Regional development (transport, environment and economic development);
Human resources (strengthening human capital and combating exclusion);
Rural development.

The IPA beneficiary countries are divided into two categories:

EU candidate countries (Croatia, Turkey and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) are eligible for all five strands of IPA;
Potential candidate countries in the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia including Kosovo) are eligible only for the first two strands.

IPA financial resources are allocated per beneficiary country and per component.

IPA intervention for strands 3, 4 and 5 is organised via multi-annual programmes. In this way, the IPA prepares candidate countries to manage European funds covering the same areas:

European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Cohesion Fund, European Social Fund (ESF), European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD).

IPA financial assistance can be suspended by a Council decision (qualified majority needed) if a country does not fulfil the commitments made in its partnership agreement for EU accession or European partnership (in particular regarding respect of human rights and the rights of minority groups).