Twinning

Twinning is an EU institution building tool bringing public sector expertise from EU Member States in support of reform processes around the world.

After over 20 years of experience in the enlargement and neighbourhood countries, this instrument is also available for Directorate-General for International Partnerships (INTPA) countries since 2020.

Twinning strengthens national policies of INTPA partner countries and regions, supports the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, while also contributing to Global Gateway.

Twinning is an EU assistance delivery tool supporting institutional capacity building, medium to long-term reform processes and peer-to-peer cooperation between public administrations in EU Member States and partner countries. On average, Twinning projects last between 12 and 36 months. 

Through cooperation based on partnership and in a Team Europe spirit, EU Member State(s) public sector experts and partner country officials work together to achieve the concrete mandatory operational results defined by the Twinning project.

Twinning projects are normally structured in components corresponding to the expected results and include activities such as workshops, training sessions, expert missions, study visits, internships and counselling.

Twinning relies on ‘learning by doing’ and sharing of best practices.

The beneficiary / partner administration in a Twinning project is a public administration with sufficient staff and absorption capacity to work with an EU Member State institution on a peer-to-peer basis for the entire duration of the project.

Standard Twinning projects are designed for technical cooperation lasting between 12 and 36 months and include the secondment of a Member State public official (‘Resident Twinning Adviser’) to the partner country for the project duration.

Twinning ‘light’ projects are a shorter form of Twinning designed to tackle institutional issues with a more limited scope, for example the implementation of a specific measure, rather than supporting reform of the general or legal framework. The maximum grant value is limited to €250,000 with a duration of maximum 8 months.

Twinning is financed from the country allocations of the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI), administered by the European Union Delegation. This means that, before drafting the Twinning project terms of reference ("Twinning fiche"), an action should be prepared in the Annual Action Plan that includes a Twinning grant. Before considering technical cooperation through Twinning, please check with the EU Delegation if the budget can be included under the Annual Action Plans.

The grant awarded to a Member State for the implementation of a Twinning project is meant to compensate the costs of that Member State for the deployment of its experts and the horizontal activities.

The Twinning project budget can only be used to finance activities that contribute to the achievement of the mandatory results/outputs as detailed in the project work plan.

This is explained in the Twinning manual, see below. 

Twinning projects are prepared jointly by the EU Delegation and the beneficiary administration, following both INTPA procedures and the Twinning Manual.

The beneficiary should retain ownership of the Twinning project and should therefore play an important role in the drafting of the Twinning terms of reference, and in the selection of its Member State(s) partner(s).

The EU Delegation coordinates the formulation of the action, conducts a consultation on the draft Twinning terms of reference, launches the call for proposals and prepares the Twinning grant contract. These grants are under direct management by the EU Delegation. 

• Twinning FAQ
• Twinning on the website of the Directorate-General for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations
• Information on open and closed Twinning calls for proposals (please choose the geographical zone or country of interest and select ‘Twinning’ in type)

If you have an interest in Twinning in an INTPA partner country, please contact the EU Delegation.

For more information on the instrument and the relevant procedures, please contact NEAR-Twinningec [dot] europa [dot] eu (NEAR-Twinning[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)