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The Cross Border Cooperation (CBC) is a key priority of the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI). It aims at reinforcing cooperation between member states and partner countries along the external border of the European Union.
15 CBC programmes (9 land borders, 3 sea crossings and 3 sea basin programmes) have been established along the Eastern and Southern external borders of the European Union with a total funding of 1,118,434 million EUR for the 7-year period 2007-2013.
In a debate (September, 23, 2010) with the Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy Commissioner Stefan Füle, many MEPs pointed out that the EU must make better use of the CBC as well as take into consideration the methods that can improve the effectiveness of this programme.
The fact is, the implementation of the CBC projects was being complicated by political and technical problems. Thus, for political reasons, Morocco refuses to take part in the programmes for which Ceuta and Melilla are eligible; Azerbaijan refuses to become involved in joint projects with Armenia and Russia does not want to participate in the Baltic Region Programme.
There were submitted almost six times more applications for the launched calls for proposals than the Commission can finance. 598 proposals were submitted under the MEDA Programme that provides financial and technical assistance to the countries in the southern Mediterranean: Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Malta, Morocco, the Palestinian Territory, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey.
At the end of 2010, the Commission will present an assessment report on the implementation of the CBC programmes. One year later, it will also propose new legislative regulation for the ENPI. |