EU Cooperation and Funding

Bosnia and Herzegovina has been given the status of 'potential candidate country' towards the European Union and therefore is eligible for EU assistance under the 'IPA' programme. IPA, which stands for Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance, was adopted on 17 July 2006 by the IPA Council Regulation (EC) No 1085/2006 for the period 2007-2013. The funding is aimed at helping to prepare the country for EU membership.

The IPA programme is a not new funding programme. Previously EU assistance was split into several different programmes (for example, Phare, ISPA, SAPARD, CARDS etc). IPA brings together all these pre-accession assistance programmes under a single umbrella.

IPA consists of five different components:

1. Transition Assistance and Institution Building
2. Regional and Cross-Border Cooperation
3. Regional Development
4. Human Resources Development
5. Rural Development

Bosnia and Herzegovina, as 'potential candidate country' for EU accession, is only eligible to apply for funds under the first two components, namely for 'Transition Assistance and Institution Building' and 'Regional and Cross-Border Cooperation'. The other three components are only accessible for 'candidate countries' for EU accession - the next step for Bosnia and Herzegovina towards EU accession.

Thus the EU, through IPA funding, is targeting its funding in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the following sectors:

• strengthening democratic institutions and the rule of law;
• reform public administration;;
• carry out economic reforms;
• promote respect for human as well as minority rights and gender equality;
• support the development of civil society and advance regional cooperation;
• contribute to sustainable development and poverty reduction.

IPA is not the only available programme for Republika Srpska. We are also eligible for numerous other EU financial instruments:

• Twinning programme
• The South East Europe programme
• SEE-ERA.NET PLUS joint calls
• Mediterranean programme
• INTERREG Adriatic Cross Border Programme
• 7th Framework Programme (FP7)
• Tempus
• JEAN MONNET
• EUREKA actions
• COST actions

The Regional Representation Office in Brussels is helping to coordinate and facilitate joint projects with other European regions for all above mentioned instruments.