Financial assistance

 The EU provides focused pre-accession financial aid to the candidate countries (currently: Croatia, Iceland, Turkey and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) and to the potential candidates ( Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo under UN Security Council Resolution 1244/1999). This financial assistance is made available both to individual and multiple beneficiaries. It is intended to help these countries to introduce the necessary political, economic and institutional reforms to bring them into line with EU standards.

The reforms necessary for EU membership also serve to improve the lives of citizens in the beneficiary countries. A key aim of assistance is to support political reform, in particular institution building, strengthening the rule of law, human rights, protection of minorities and the development of civil society.

Before joining the EU, a country must have a functioning market economy, as well as the capacity to cope with competitive pressures and market forces within the EU. Assistance is therefore provided to support economic reform, leading to faster growth and better employment prospects.

Assistance with the adoption of the obligations related to membership improves quality of life in EU Member States too, as candidates and potential candidates align to and gradually adopt EU rules, for example concerning protection of the environment and the fight against crime, drugs and illegal immigration. Furthermore, pre-accession aid encourages regional cooperation and contributes to sustainable development and poverty reduction.

EU funding is designed to facilitate medium to long-term changes in society and the economy as a whole. The pace of reform and that of the accession process are closely related.