Polish aid

Twinning is an EU development cooperation programme aimed at developing the public sector in the neighbouring countries. A typical twinning project lasts approximately 15 months, has a budget of EUR 1 million, and involves public administration institutions.

The involvement of Polish institutions in the implementation of twinning projects is very beneficial to Poland as it offers an opportunity to pursue its foreign policy goals using EU funds, i.e. the European Commission’s financial instruments (the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance, IPA, and the European Neighbourhood Instrument, ENI).

In the past four years, Polish public administration institutions each year won four to seven projects with a total budget of between five and eight million euro, chiefly in Eastern Partnership and Balkan countries.

The most active Polish institutions in this area include the National Bank of Poland, the Supreme Audit Office, the Ministry of Finance, the Financial Supervision Authority, and institutions from the agricultural sector.

Poland ranks among the first ten EU member states in terms of twinning activity, with Lithuania currently in the lead.

The administration in Chisinau is one of the beneficiaries of Poland’s measures in this respect. As a consortium member, the Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture (ARiMR) has recently won a twinning call in Moldova, “Further support to agriculture, rural development and food safety in RM.” The EU budget for the two-year project is EUR 2 million.

While the involvement of the Agency in the implementation of twinning project requires additional effort of its staff and imposes obligations on ARiMR in this field, it is nevertheless very beneficial to Poland. By winning the call, the Polish side has gained the opportunity to influence the shape of Moldova’s agriculture on the basis of Polish standards, which in turn will have a positive impact on the multidimensional Polish-Moldovan cooperation in the agricultural sector.

Another winning project, ''Improving Spatial Data Services in the Republic of Moldova following EU standards'', is implemented by the consortium of Polish Head Office of Geodesy and Cartography (GUGIK) as a junior partner with Croatia and the Netherlands (a EUR 1,800,000 budget). This measure will facilitate the strengthening of Moldovan e-administration through better exchange of spatial data according to EU standards and best practices.

The successful award of a Polish-Italian joint proposal for Bosnia and Herzegovina in the twinning call for proposals “EU support to capacity building and gradual Union acquis alignment in phytosanitary sector in BiH”, budgeted for EUR 1,500,000, was definitely positive for Poland. The Polish partners were: the Main Inspectorate of Plans Health and Seed Inspection, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Institute of Horticulture. By winning the call for proposals, Poland will contribute to the establishment of local EU-compliant standards for seed material and crops protection chemicals.

Another successful applicant in the twinning calls is the National Revenue Administration (Ministry of Finance), the junior partner in the consortium with German and Lithuanian institutions. A budget of EUR 1,300,000 was earmarked for the implementation in Belarus of the project “Strengthening Cooperation between the EU and the Republic of Belarus in the Customs Sector”. The direct benefit for the Polish side is the opportunity to influence the shape of future customs policy of Belarus.

In January 2020, the Minister of Foreign Affairs issued recommendations for Polish institutions on implementing  twinning projects. They regulate the fundamental technical issues of Polish public administration’s participation in this programme.

In Poland, twinning is coordinated by the National Contact Points at the MFA’s Department of Development Coordination.

We encourage Polish administration to participate in twinning projects.