CHAPTER II

In accordance with Articles 3 and 4, the specific objectives of Union support under the Instrument for the Neighbourhood area are to: promote enhanced political cooperation and strengthen and consolidate deep and sustainable democracy, stability, good governance, the rule of law and the respect for human rights; support the implementation of association agreements or other existing and future agreements, and jointly agreed association agendas and partnership priorities or equivalent documents, including through institutional cooperation and capacity building; promote a strengthened partnership with societies between the Union and the partner countries, and among the partner countries, including through people-to-people contacts and a wide range of activities with a specific focus on youth; enhance regional and cross-border cooperation, in particular in the framework of the Eastern Partnership, the Union for the Mediterranean, European Neighbourhood-wide collaboration as well as Black Sea regional cooperation, Arctic cooperation, the Northern Dimension, including in the areas of energy and security; achieve progressive integration into the Union internal market and enhanced sectoral and cross-sectoral cooperation, including through legislative approximation and regulatory convergence towards Union and other relevant international norms and standards, and improved market access, including through deep and comprehensive free trade areas, related institution building and investment; strengthen partnerships on well-managed and safe migration and mobility and, where applicable and provided that conditions for well-managed and secure mobility are in place, support the implementation of existing visa-free regimes, in line with the revised visa suspension mechanism, visa liberalisation dialogues and bilateral or regional agreements and arrangements with third countries, including mobility partnerships; support confidence-building and other measures contributing to security, the prevention and settlement of conflicts, including support to affected populations and reconstruction. For partner countries and territories listed in Annex I, priority areas for Union financing shall be selected mainly from those included in the association, partnership and cooperation agreements, jointly agreed association agendas and partnership priorities or other relevant, existing and future, jointly agreed documents referred to in point (c) of Article 14(3), between the Union and the partner countries in bilateral and multilateral formats, including, as relevant, within the Eastern Partnership and the southern dimension of the European Neighbourhood Policy, in accordance with the specific objectives laid down in Article 18 and the areas of cooperation for the geographic programmes set out in Annex II. By way of derogation from Article 13(2) and (3), Union support under geographic programmes in the Neighbourhood area shall be differentiated in form and in amounts, taking into account the partner country’s: needs, using indicators such as population, inequalities and level of development; commitment to and progress in implementing jointly agreed political, economic, environmental and social reform objectives; commitment to and progress in building deep and sustainable democracy, the rule of law, good governance, human rights, and the fight against corruption; partnership with the Union, including the level of ambition for that partnership; absorption capacity and potential impact of Union support under the Instrument. The Union support referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article shall be reflected in the programming documents for the geographic programmes referred to in Article 14. Indicatively 10 % of the financial envelope set out in the first indent of point (a) of Article 6(2) to supplement the country indicative financial allocations referred to in Article 14 shall be allocated to the partner countries and territories listed in Annex I as an incentive towards reforms. Such allocations shall be decided on the basis of their performance and progress towards democracy, good governance and the rule of law including cooperation with civil society, human rights including gender equality, cooperation on migration, economic governance and reforms, in particular those reforms that have been jointly agreed. The progress of the partner countries shall be regularly assessed, in particular by means of progress reports which include trends as compared to previous years. Paragraph 1 shall not apply to support to civil society, conflict prevention and peacebuilding, people-to-people contacts, including cooperation between local authorities, support for the improvement of human rights or crisis-related support measures. In the event of serious or persistent degradation of democracy, human rights or the rule of law, or an increased risk of conflict, support to those actions shall be increased, where possible and appropriate. Multi-country indicative programmes in the Neighbourhood area shall address challenges common to all or a number of partner countries, based on priorities of the Eastern Partnership and the southern dimension of the reviewed European Neighbourhood Policy and taking into account the work carried out in the context of the Union for the Mediterranean, and regional, trans-regional and sub-regional cooperation, primarily between two or more partner countries, including also within the framework of the Northern Dimension and Black Sea Synergy regional cooperation. Cross-border cooperation, as defined in point (5) of the first paragraph of Article 2, shall cover cooperation along external adjacent land and maritime borders, transnational cooperation over larger transnational territories or around sea-basins, as well as interregional cooperation. The Neighbourhood area shall contribute to cross-border cooperation programmes as referred to in paragraph 1 co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund in the framework of the Interreg Regulation. Up to 5 % of the financial envelope for the Neighbourhood area shall be indicatively allocated to support those programmes. Contributions to cross-border cooperation programmes shall be determined and used pursuant to Article 10(3) of the Interreg Regulation. The Union co-financing rate shall not be higher than 90 % of the eligible expenditure of a cross-border cooperation programme. Pre-financing for cross-border cooperation programmes may exceed the percentage referred to in Article 51 of the Interreg Regulation. At the request of the managing authority, for each financial year, the pre-financing rate may be up to 80 % of annual commitments to the programme. A multiannual strategy document for cross-border cooperation, setting out the elements referred to in Article 14(2) of this Regulation, shall be adopted in accordance with Article 10(1) of the Interreg Regulation. Where cross-border cooperation programmes are discontinued in accordance with Article 12 of the Interreg Regulation, support from the financial envelope for the Neighbourhood area to the discontinued programme that remains available may primarily be used to finance other cross-border cooperation programmes or any other activity under that financial envelope as appropriate.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-02 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.