EU assistance in the field of institution building

The CIB program aims to support institutional reform in Ukraine in line with European standards in order to establish an appropriate domestic mechanism for the implementation of the Association Agreement with the EU.

The overall coordination of work on the implementation of the CIB Program in Ukraine is carried out by the National Civil Service Agency.

The CIB program provides for institutional reforms in Ukraine in four areas:

1. Implementation of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU, including the Deep Free Trade Area. The goal is to increase the efficiency of the system of public authorities in the field of European integration in order to properly fulfill the obligations that Ukraine will undertake in accordance with the Association Agreement.
2. Implementation of sanitary and phytosanitary measures. The goal is to increase the efficiency of the public administration system in the field of food safety and bring it in line with EU standards.
3. Improving the capacity of institutions in the field of migration management. The goal is to strengthen the capacity and increase the efficiency of the institutional structure of public administration in the field of migration management.
4. Improving state aid monitoring and control. The goal is to create in Ukraine a system of monitoring and control of state aid in accordance with the standards and criteria of the EU and Ukraine's international obligations.

EU Twinning Instrument

The implementation of the Twinning instrument was initiated by the European Commission in 1997 in connection with the enlargement of the European Union. This new institution building tool was created to adapt the legislation of the beneficiary countries to the EU legislation.

To date, more than 2,000 Twinning projects have been implemented.

For the CIS countries, the Twinning tool has been available since 2005 in the form of the so-called Tacis project.

"Twinning" is a form of direct technical interaction between the authorities of the EU Member States and the beneficiary countries. Twinning aims to help beneficiary countries improve and strengthen the administrative functioning of public authorities, their structure, human resources, and management capacity, which should help approximate national legislation to the acquis communautaire.

The defining feature of the Twinning project is the direct exchange of specific experience in a particular area of ​​state regulation in order to implement EU norms and standards, the transfer of best practices between public authorities of EU member states and their beneficiary partners.

The Twinning project can be "classic" (up to 36 months) or "light" (up to 6 months).

Twinning in Ukraine

Ukraine was the first country to use the Twinning instrument.

Twinning projects in Ukraine focus on the approximation of Ukrainian legislation to the acquis communautaire, as well as elements of institutional reform.

The National Civil Service Agency of Ukraine is in charge of coordinating the implementation of Twinning projects in Ukraine through the Program Administrative Office opened on November 22, 2006.

Ukraine is one of the leaders in the number of Twinning projects. Currently, the Twinning Work Plan in Ukraine includes more than 50 projects in the areas of public internal financial control, competition policy, electricity market regulation, civil aviation, norms and standards, space technology, road safety, transport policy and internal affairs).

To date, 33 state bodies (institutions) of Ukraine are involved in the implementation of the Twinning instrument.