The European Parliament has approved the New European Neighbourhood Instrument: ENI

The European Parliament has approved the new European Neighbourhood Instrument with more than €15 billion in funding for 2014-2020.

Building on the achievements of the current European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI), the ENI will support strengthening of relations with Neighbourhood countries and bring tangible benefits to both the EU and its partners. It will provide support through bilateral, multi-country and Cross Border Co-operation (CBC) programmes.

In line with the renewed Neighbourhood Policy launched in 2011, ENI support will mainly focus on:

• Promoting human rights and the rule of law; establishing deep and sustainable democracy and developing a thriving civil society;

• Sustainable and inclusive growth and economic, social and territorial development; including progressive integration in the EU internal market;

• Mobility and people-to-people contacts; including student exchanges;

• Regional integration; including Cross-Border Cooperation programmes. 

The new European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI)In line with the renewed Neighbourhood Policy launched in 2011, ENI support will mainly focus on: 

• Promoting human rights and the rule of law; establishing deep and sustainable democracy and developing a thriving civil society;
• Sustainable and inclusive growth and economic, social and territorial development; including progressive integration in the EU internal market;
• Mobility and people-to-people contacts; including student exchanges;
• Regional integration; including Cross-Border Cooperation programmes. 

Main elements of the new ENI

• Implementing differentiation and the incentive based approach:the EU will betterdifferentiate levels of support by adjusting its assistance to the partner countries' needs and progress, based on clear criteria.
• The incentive based approach, the key aspect of the renewed Neighbourhood policy, will allow the EU to increase its support for those partners who are genuinely implementing deep and sustainable democracy, including respect for human rights, and agreed reform objectives, as assessed in regular progress reports. Streamlining the scope of the Instrument by focussing on a limited number of key policy objectives. This will make EU support more relevant, more aligned with policy priorities and more flexible.
• Streamlining the programming process by reducing its complexity and increasing its focus, especially for ENP partners that have jointly agreed to the EU strategic priorities in Action Plans or equivalent documents. This will further increase efficiency and speed of support provided to ENP partner countries.
• Improving provisions on Cross-Border Cooperation (CBC) programmes. These programmes aim at reinforcing cooperation between Member States and partner countries along the external border of the European Union. The revised provisions will facilitate effective and fast implementation.
• Promoting closer links with EU internal instruments and policies; including throughpromoting mechanisms for the pooling of funds from internal and external instruments of the EU budget. The aim is to enable partner countries and their citizens to participate in successful EU internal programmes in areas such as research and innovation, youth programmes, development of small and medium enterprises and industrial cooperation, while improving the efficiency and simplification of the implementation of assistance.
• Responding to the evolving relationship with Russia by amending Russia’s eligibility for ENI funding to reflect the specific status of Russia as an EU neighbour and strategic partner. As a neighbour, Russia will remain eligible under the ENI for multi-country programmes (including regional cooperation and Erasmus +) and CBC programmes. Bilateral cooperation with Russia under the new MFF will be funded under the new Partnership Instrument, which supports cooperation with EU strategic partners. 

Budget breakdown

The total amount agreed for this external relations package is €51,419 million (current prices) over the period 2014-2020. 

−        Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA): €11,699 million
−        European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI): €15,433 million
−        Development Cooperation Instrument (DCI): €19,662 million
−        Partnership Instrument (PI): €955 million
−        Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace (IfSP): €2,339 million
−        European Instrument for Democracy & Human Rights (EIDHR): €1,333 million 

The package will also have to be voted by the Council and is expected to be adopted shortly. (EU Neighbourhood Info) 

Read more: 
European Parliament press release 
Füle and Piebalgs statement 
EC memo The Multiannual Financial Framework: The External Action Financing Instruments 
EP background note on external financing instruments