ISPA, Phare and SAPARD

The pre-accession funds finance expenditure on the adoption of the existing body of Community law and on development in general.

The PHARE programme has been funding modernisation in the CEECs for over ten years. In 1997 and 1999 it was modified the better to meet the requirements of accession and to prepare the countries for the Structural Funds. It already finances a raft of projects, including cross-border co-operation schemes, in areas that will be covered by the Structural Funds.

The Pre-Accession Structural Instrument (ISPA) has been funding transport and environmental schemes in all the CEECs since early 2000, along the same lines as the Cohesion Fund model designed for the least prosperous EU members. It provides direct financing for environmental projects to help apply directives that call for heavy investment, and for transport projects directly connected to the ten pan-European corridors that have been identified in these countries.

The Special Accession Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development (SAPARD) has also been in operation since 2000, helping the applicants prepare for the common agricultural policy, in particular for its standards of food quality and consumer and environmental protection.

Separate aid programmes were also drawn up in 2000 for Cyprus, Malta and Turkey, carrying on from earlier programmes run under the financial co-operation and MEDA agreements.

Additional information on Regional policy and applicant States