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TAIEX (Technical Assistance and Information Exchange)

TAIEX and Twinning are EU institution-building instruments managed by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR).

TAIEX is designed to provide short-term support to public administrations in a unique peer-to-peer fashion. TAIEX experts come as volunteers from the public administrations of EU Member States to share their experience with their peers on how to apply EU law.

For example, TAIEX connects the following:

  • central public administrations;
  • judiciary and law enforcement authorities;
  • parliaments and their civil servants;
  • representatives of social partners, trade unions and employers’ associations.

The three main forms of support are

  • workshops;
  • expert missions;
  • study visits.

The format, length and other details of each assistance mission are tailored to the beneficiary’s needs.

Since summer 2020, TAIEX support has also been available in a fully digital format. This allowed the instrument to support partner countries in tackling the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as in the post-COVID recovery strategies. The combination of offline and digital solutions makes the instrument flexible and resilient, and allows it to be used quickly in response to emerging needs.

TAIEX assistance is available for:

  • candidate countries and potential candidates to EU membership: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Turkey;
  • the Turkish community in northern Cyprus;
  • European Neighbourhood Policy: Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Moldova, Morocco, Palestine**, Syria, Tunisia and Ukraine;
  • countries and territories covered by the Commission’s Directorate-General for International Partnerships;
  • all countries working under the Partnership Instrument (generally, industrialised and other high-income or middle-income countries across the world);
  • EU countries in the context of administrative cooperation with the Commission’s Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy, Directorate-General for Environment, and the Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support.

The TAIEX instrument is complemented by longer-term institution-building support, Twinning, which offers long-term, on-the-ground cooperation.

TAIEX has been operational since 1996 organising on average 1,000 peer-to-peer exchanges per year.

*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.
**This designation shall not be construed as recognition of a State of Palestine and is without prejudice to the individual positions of the EU countries on this issue.

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