EU FUNDS

Pre Accession

IPA

Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA)

The Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance is designed to create a single framework and to unite under the same instrument both Candidate and Potential Candidate Countries, thus, facilitating the transfer from one status to another.

IPA replaces the 2000-2006 pre-accession financial instruments PHARE, ISPA, SAPARD, the Turkish pre-accession instrument, and the financial instrument for the Western Balkans; CARDS.

The main objectives of IPA are;

In accordance with its objectives, IPA comprises five components:

Candidate Countries – Croatia, Turkey, and the Republic of Macedonia – benefit from all the five components, the last three of which aim at preparing them to manage EU funds after accession.

Potential Candidate Countries – Albania, Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina – are eligible for the first two components of IPA, which concentrate on institution building, in particular to strengthen the Copenhagen political criteria, enhance administrative and judicial capacity and encourage some alignment with the acquis communautaire.

Types of assistance under IPA will include finance investments, procurement contracts, grants, including interest rate subsidies, special loans, loan guarantees and financial assistance, budgetary support, and other specific forms of budgetary aid, and the contribution to the capital of international financial institutions or the regional development banks. Any natural or legal person based in the eligible countries (under the eligible component) will be able to apply for funding under IPA.

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