Financial rules of ENI

Resources available under the ENI that in fact constitute external expenditure from the EU budget and – at the same time – one of the priorities of the EU’s contemporary economic and social policy (Proczek, Janczak 2009: 67), are offered to partner countries primarily based on the progress made. The progress is mainly assessed in the area of building and consolidating deep and sustainable democracy and implementing agreed political, economic and social reform objectives. The objectives and priorities for Union support, together with indicative allocations, are specifi ed in relevant multiannual programming documents. These documents are, in principle, agreed in cooperation with benefi ciaries and in consultation with competent local authorities, civil society organisations and other

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stakeholders, and in coordination with Member States and other donors, including International Financial Institutions. The programming is also subject of a Strategic Dialogue with the European Parliament (European External Action Service 2015a). In principle, the support is co-fi nanced by the partner countries and other participating countries through public funds, contributions from the benefi ciaries or other sources.

The budget of the ENI for the years 2014–2020 amounts to EUR 15,432,634,000 at current prices. The annual appropriations are authorised by the European Parliament and by the Council within the limits of the multiannual fi nancial framework.

Under ENI, as mentioned above, the support is provided based on:

– bilateral programmes for partner countries,

– multi-country (regional and ENP-wide) programmes,

– cross-border cooperation programmes between Member States and partner countries and Russia.

The bilateral programmes are supposed to address the top priorities such as human rights, good governance and the rule of law, institutional cooperation and capacity development, sustainable and inclusive economic development, support to civil society actors, development of the social sectors, trade and private sector development, agriculture and rural development, sustainable management of natural resource, the energy sector, transport and infrastructure, education and skills development, mobility and migration management, confi dence-building and other measures contributing to the prevention and settlement of confl icts. The EU support at the multi-country level covers the same topics which are the most urgent also in the international environment. The cross-border cooperation programmes focus on economic and social development, the environment, public health, safety and security and the mobility of persons, goods and capital.

The bilateral programmes can receive up to 80% of funding from the ENI, multi-country ones – up to 35%, and cross-border cooperation ones – up to 5%. Additionally, the ENI supports, alongside other instruments for fi nancing external action (the Development Cooperation Instrument, the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA II) and the Partnership Instrument), actions in respect of learning mobility to or from partner countries, mainly under Erasmus+: the Union programme for education, training, youth and sport and of cooperation and policy dialogue with authorities, institutions and organisations from those countries (Regulation (EU) No. 1288/2013).

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Finally, the incentive-based-approach towards funding allocation for each partner country under the ENI is refl ected in the two mechanisms (European External Action Service 2015a):

– an 'Umbrella' programme of up to 10% of the ENI budget, to be allocated to partner countries based on their progress in advancing deep and sustainable democracy. Progress in implementing agreed reform objectives contributing to that goal should also be taken into account;

– the possibility to vary multiannual bilateral allocations within the range of no more than 20% of the indicative allocation.

The Indicative Allocation of Funds under the ENI (2014–2020) is presented in Tables 1–4.

Table 1. ENI Regional East Multiannual Indicative Programme Indicative allocation 2014–2020 EUR 741,000,000 – EUR 906,000,000 Indicative allocation for the 1st period

(2014–2017) EUR 418,000,000 – EUR 511,000,000

Eastern Partnership including Flagship

Initiatives 75%

Regional cooperation frameworks 10%

Energy and transport initiatives involving

the wider region 5%

Horizontal and sectoral support to regional

cooperation 10%

Source: European External Action Service 2014a: 13.

Table 2. ENI Regional South Multiannual Indicative Programme Indicative allocation foreseen (2014–2020) EUR 674,000,000 – EUR 824,000,000 Indicative allocation for the 1st period

(2014–2017) EUR 371,000,000 – EUR 453,000,000

Building a partnership for sustainable

and liberty, democracy and security 20%

Building a partnership for inclusive and

sustainable economic development 20%

Building a partnership between the people 25%

Support regional and sub-regional

institutional cooperation 15%

Complementary support 20%

Source: European External Action Service 2014b: 12.

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Table 3. Cross-Border Cooperation Programmes under the ENI Indicative total ENI funding

for the period 2014–2020 EUR 489,000,000 – EUR 598,000,000.

Land border programmes

for the period 2014–2020 ENI (in EUR) ERDF (in EUR) TOTAL (in EUR)

Kolarctic/Russia 12,359,045 12,359,045 24,718,090

Karelia/Russia 10,750,527 10,750,527 21,501,054

SE Finland/Russia 18,073,391 18,073,391 36,146,782

Estonia/Russia 8,403,762 8,403,762 16,807,524

Latvia/Russia 7,937,514 7,937,514 15,875,028

Lithuania/Russia 9,507,615 9,507,615 19,015,230

Poland/Russia 24,292,057 24,292,057 48,584,114

Latvia/Lithuania/Belarus 37,000,000 37,000,000 74,000,000 Poland/Belarus/Ukraine 87,899,652 87,899,652 175,799,304 Hungary/Slovakia/Romania/

Ukraine 36,976,000 36,976,000 73,952,000

Romania/Ukraine 30,000,000 30,000,000 60,000,000

Romania/Moldova 40,500,000 40,500,000 81,000,000

Sea crossing programme

Italy/Tunisia 16,677,410 16,677,410 33,354,820

Sea basin programmes

Baltic Sea Region 8,800,000 N/A 8,800,000

Black Sea 24,294,121 14,744,476 39,038,597

Mediterranean 104,528,906 104,528,906 209,057,812

Mid-Atlantic 50,000,000 50,000,000 100,000,000

Programme Support 15,000,000 N/A 15,000,000

TOTAL 543,000,000 509,650,355 1,052,650,355

Source: European External Action Service 2014d: Table 1.

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Table 4. Multi-annual Indicative Programme 2014–2020 European Neighbourhood-wide measures Indicative allocation 2014–2020

EUR 3,084,000,000 – EUR 3,455,000,000 of which EUR 1,407,000,000 for umbrella support

Indicative allocation for the 1st period (2014–2017)

EUR 1,675,000,000 – EUR 1,876,000,000 of which EUR 770,000,000 for umbrella support

Building a partnership for inclusive and sustainable economic development and integration

55%

Building a partnership between people:

Erasmus+ in the Neighbourhood and Russia 40%

Building capacity for European

Neighbourhood countries 5%

Source: European External Action Service 2014g: 3.

Poland-Belarus-Ukraine Cross-border Cooperation as an