Keyword inter-institutional cooperation; capacity building; exchange of information and experience; public awareness; public participation

The concept of “twinning projects” was developed by the European Union in the 1990’s as part of EU’s technical, “pre-accession”, assistance for the so-called “candidate countries”. The objective was to harmonize the legislation of these countries with that of the EU (“acquis communautaire”) and to advance institutional reforms required for its implementation. “Twinning” also helps to build long-term relationships between existing and future EU Member States and familiarizes new Member States and candidate countries with the different practices within the EU.

Twinning projects involve the secondment of EU experts, known as Twinning Resident Advisors (TRA) to the acceding and candidate countries. They are made available for a period of at least one year to work on a specific project in the corresponding Ministry in an accession State or candidate country. These experts are supported by senior project leaders in the administration of the TRA’s country of origin, who are responsible for ensuring project implementation and co-ordination of input from the Member State. In addition to TRAs, short-term expertise, training, translation and interpreting services as well as specialized information technology (IT) assistance is provided.

Such twinning arrangements may also provide very valuable results outside the specific context of the EU.