European Union: Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) II is a grant program from the European Union that funds political, institutional, legal, administrative, social, and economic reforms in Western Balkans countries seeking EU membership. IPA II, allocated €12.

8 billion for 2014-2020, supported democracy and governance, rule of law, and economic competitiveness through a sector-based approach in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Türkiye. The successor IPA III program covers 2021-2027 with a €14. 162 billion budget.

Eligible applicants include nonprofit organizations, NGOs, and civil society organizations based in the Western Balkans. Funding amounts vary by program and country.

Overview - Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance - Enlargement and Eastern Neighbourhood Overview - Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance The Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) is the means by which the EU has been supporting reforms in the enlargement region with financial and technical assistance since 2007.

IPA funds build up the capacities of the beneficiary countries throughout the accession process, resulting in progressive, positive developments in the region. For the period 2007-2013, the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) had a budget of €11. 5 billion.

Its successor, IPA II, was allocated €12. 8 billion for the period 2014-2020. For the multiannual financial framework period 2021-2027, the IPA III budgetary envelope is €14.

162 billion. The current beneficiaries are: Albania , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Kosovo * , Montenegro , North Macedonia , Serbia , and Türkiye . Assistance is also provided through multi-country / regional programmes .

*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence. The EU pre-accession funds are a sound investment into the future of both the enlargement region and the EU. They support beneficiaries to implement the necessary political and economic reforms, preparing them for the rights and obligations that come with the EU membership.

Those reforms should provide their citizens with better opportunities and allow for the development of standards, equal to the ones we enjoy as citizens of the EU. The pre-accession funds also help the EU reach its own objectives including a sustainable economic situation, energy supply, transport, sound environment and climate change, and stability.

The general objective of the IPA III instrument is to support the beneficiary countries in adopting and implementing the political, institutional, legal, administrative, social and economic reforms required by those beneficiaries to comply with Union values and to progressively align to Union rules, standards, policies and practices with a view to Union membership, thereby contributing to their stability, security and prosperity.

The IPA III instrument is clearly aligned with the flagships and priorities of the ‘Economic and Investment Plan for the Western Balkans’ (October 2020), the Western Balkan Strategy ‘A credible enlargement perspective for and enhanced EU engagement with the Western Balkans (February 2018), and the Commission Communication ‘Enhancing the accession process – a credible EU perspective for the Western Balkans (February 2020).

IPA III presents a solid policy-driven approach, with strategic and dynamic deployment of assistance, putting the fundamental requirements for the EU membership at the core of the instrument. By further focusing EU financial assistance on key priorities, IPA III leverages support to reforms fostering sustainable socio-economic development and bringing the partners closer to the Union’s values and standards.

At the same time, it is sufficiently flexible to adapt to the evolving situation in Türkiye and reflect developments in EU relations with the country. In 2024, the Commission adopted the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans . The Plan has four pillars, among which the Reform and Growth Facility as central element with a EUR 6 billion budget.

Via this Reform and Growth Facility, the European Commission has significantly increased its financial support offer to the Western Balkan countries. The budget will be made available for the beneficiaries based on a Reform Agenda, outlining programming priorities and the specific steps to be fulfilled in order to receive the funding from the Facility.

At least half of the overall amount made available to the beneficiaries will be allocated through the Western Balkans Investment Framework, supporting infrastructure investments and connectivity, including transport, energy, green and digital transitions. The remaining part will be released as direct support to the national budgets.

For 2025-27, IPA III programmes are focusing mainly on preparing the beneficiary countries for accession, EU acquis alignment, as well as capacity building and technical assistance in order to ensure synergy and complementarity with the assistance provided under the Reform and Growth Facility.

The IPA III Regulation was adopted on 15 September 2021, came into force on 20 September 2021 and is applicable retroactively from 1 January 2021. The IPA III Regulation is complemented by the Commission Delegated Regulation , which was adopted on 1 October 2021 and came into force on 3 December 2021. It sets out specific objectives and thematic priorities for IPA III assistance.

The IPA III Implementing Regulation was adopted by the Commission on 15 December 2021 and entered into force on 16 December 2021. Furthermore, the NDICI-GE Regulation , which was adopted on 9 June 2021, entered into force on 14 June 2021 and applies retroactively from 1 January 2021, sets out certain horizontal provisions, which are also applicable for IPA III assistance.

The Commission adopted a model for a Financial Framework Partnership Agreement (FFPA) between the Commission and the governments of the IPA III beneficiaries on 31 March 2022 . On this basis, individual FFPAs were agreed with the six Western Balkan beneficiaries and Türkiye and entered into force by the end of 2022.

IPA III Programming Framework The IPA III Programming Framework , as described in Article 7 of the IPA III Regulation, is the overarching European Commission's strategic document for the use of EU funds assisting the IPA III beneficiaries for the duration of the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework. It replaces the previous country-specific strategy papers.

The programming framework 2021-2027 reflects the specific objectives of the IPA III Regulation and focuses on the priorities of the enlargement process according to five thematic windows, which mirror the clusters of negotiating chapters as per the revised enlargement methodology. The programming of EU assistance is based on EU thematic priorities rather than pre-defined country envelopes.

This allows rewarding performance and progress towards key priorities and increases the flexibility to respond to the evolving needs of the partners in their path towards accession. For more information: How does it work? Although the IPA II Regulation applied until 31 December 2020, implementation of IPA II funds is still ongoing.

Prepared in partnership with the beneficiaries, IPA II set a new framework for providing pre-accession assistance for the period 2014-2020. IPA II targeted reforms within the framework of pre-defined sectors. These sectors covered areas closely linked to the enlargement strategy, such as democracy and governance, rule of law, and growth and competitiveness.

This sector approach promoted structural reforms that helped transform a given sector and bring it up to EU standards. It allowed to move towards a more targeted assistance, ensuring efficiency, sustainability and focus on results.

IPA II also allowed for a more systematic use of sector budget support and gave more weight to performance measurement: indicators agreed with the beneficiaries helped assess to what extent the expected results were achieved. As of 31 December 2021, the Commission implemented 99% of the IPA II commitment appropriations and 59% of the payment appropriations.

Performance reward under IPA II The performance reward was a mechanism set up in the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance II Regulation 231/2014 (Art 14) . It provided a financial incentive for individual IPA II beneficiaries in case of particular progress made towards meeting the membership criteria and/or efficient implementation of pre-accession assistance.

The Regulation twice foresaw the use of the performance reward scheme in the period 2014-2020 (current Multi-annual Financial Framework). The reward was first allocated in 2017, benefitting Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia with an overall amount of EUR 78 million. The amount allocated for the 2020 performance reward exercise was also EUR 78 million.

The Commission proposed to reward the two countries, which had undertaken the most significant steps to advance EU reforms: Albania and North Macedonia. The IPA II Regulation came into force on 16 March 2014 and was applicable retroactively from 1 January 2014.

The IPA II Regulation was complemented by the Common Implementing Regulation (CIR) , a set of simplified and harmonised implementing rules and procedures for all external action instruments, as well as the IPA II Implementing Regulation adopted by the Commission on 2 May 2014. The IPA Regulation for the period 2007-2013 expired on 31 December 2013, although some of its activities are still ongoing.

It was designed to provide financial assistance through five channels (known as "components"): transition assistance and institution building, cross-border cooperation, regional development, human resource development and rural development. IPA III 2021-2027 indicative allocations The table below shows the indicative allocation for the period 2021-2027 to support the thematic priorities of IPA III programming framework.

Prices are expressed in million Euro. IPA III Windows % 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 Total Window 1: Rule of law, fundamental rights and democracy 15,13 281 287 292 298 304 310 317 2. 089 Window 2: Good governance, EU acquis alignment, good neighbourly relations and strategic communication 16,59 308 314 321 327 333 340 347 2.

291 Window 3: Green agenda and sustainable connectivity 42,25 788 804 820 837 853 870 888 5. 860 Window 4: Competitiveness and inclusive growth 22,31 414 422 431 440 448 457 467 3. 080 Window 5: Territorial and cross-border cooperation 3,51 65 66 68 69 71 72 73 485 Total Operational Budget 100,0% 1.

855 1. 894 1. 932 1.

971 2. 010 2. 051 2.

093 13. 804 Administrative Appropriations n/a 49 49 50 51 52 53 54 357 Total 100,00% 1. 904 1.

943 1. 982 2. 022 2.

062 2. 104 2. 147 14.

162 Current prices are calculated by applying annually a fixed deflator of 2% to the amounts in 2018 prices. Totals do not tally due to rounding. IPA II 2014-2020 commitments* Country 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 TOTAL 2014-2020 Albania 68.

7 91. 9 82. 7 80.

2 107. 4 91. 2 236.

6 758. 0 Bosnia & Herzegovina 75. 7 39.

7 47 74. 8 83. 8 103.

2 112. 3 539. 6 Kosovo* 66.

75 82. 1 73. 86 78.

16 91. 3 89. 3 91.

7 573. 1 Montenegro 39. 5 36.

4 35. 4 41. 4 44.

2 42. 3 31. 7 269.

2 North Macedonia 81. 7 67. 2 64.

6 82. 2 99. 2 111.

0 127. 2 633. 0 Serbia 189.

1 216. 1 189. 4 166.

7 214. 1 211. 0 218.

1 1,404. 4 Turkey 619. 6 625.

7 629. 2 508. 6 386.

8 248. 3 168. 2 3,186.

5 Multi-country 248. 1 359. 1 441.

6 458. 2 516. 3 632.

4 664. 1 3,319. 7 Total 1,543.

1 1,649. 9 1,391. 2 1,521.

5 1,566. 2 1,483. 1 1,528.

5 10,683. 5 * Including DG AGRI (IPARD), DG REGIO (CBC with MS) and EAC (Erasmus+) and excluding contributions to FRIT (EU Facility for Refugees in Turkey) and TF Madad (EU Regional Trust Fund for Syria).

IPA I 2007-2013 commitments & payments IPA per country Allocated Paid Albania 520,936,906 468,761,852 Bosnia and Herzegovina 521,771,765 517,805,176 Croatia 813,387,940 730,474,435 Kosovo 678,931,799 633,873,739 Montenegro 206,088,976 191,172,886 North Macedonia 478,459,905 427,126,925 Serbia 1,344,571,356 1,207,596,526 Turkey 4,392,763,734 3,960,513,063 Iceland 23,213,454 6,151,472 Regional programmes 1,361,053,085 1,323,712,918 Total 10,341,178,920 9,467,188,992 Split per DG Allocated Paid NEAR 6,358,307,027 5,843,823,624 REGIO 2,502,820,607 2,297,294,455 EMPL 552,185,053 467,670,252 AGRI 927,866,233 858,400,660 Total 10,341,178,920 9,467,188,992 Allocations = Level 1 Commitments (Decision Level) minus de-commitments.

Payments = Payments (advance payments; interim payments and final payments) made to the contractor (direct management) / beneficiary country or international organisation (indirect management). Directorate-General for Enlargement and Eastern Neighbourhood COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION of 24. 7.

2025 on the financing of the multiannual action plan in favour of the Western Balkans for 2025-2027 Directorate-General for Enlargement and Eastern Neighbourhood CORRIGENDUM to Commission Implementing Decision on the financing of the multiannual action plan in favour of the Western Balkans for 2025-2027 C(2025)5272 of 24 July 2025 Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION of 12.

3. 2024 on the financing of the multiannual support measure for communication in favour of IPA III beneficiaries for 2024-2027 Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations COMMISSION DECISION of 31. 3.

2022 establishing a model for a financial framework partnership agreement between the Commission and the government of an IPA III beneficiary Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION of 18. 10. 2022 on the financing of the annual action plan in favour of Türkiye for 2022 European Commission welcomes political agreement on new €14.

2 billion Pre-Accession Assistance Instrument (IPA III) Factsheet: EU budget for the future - The Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA III) High Level Meeting Joint Conclusions Overview on the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance. Activities and results in the Western Balkans and Turkey - 2007-2014 National IPA coordinators International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) Factsheet: Protection of the EU budget