What is Twinning?

Twinning is an initiative of the European Commission, established eleven years ago to prepare for EU enlargement. It is an instrument for targeted institutional cooperation that aims to help candidate countries strengthen their administrative and judicial capacity for the implementation of the acquis communautaire.
Twinning projects deliver important advances in institution building. Austria has participated very actively in Twinning projects from the start, and has already implemented 222 projects in 26 different countries.
Every EU Member State designates a National Contact Point (NCP) for Twinning projects who serves as a pivot for all communication between the European Commission and the MS and acts as a contact point for other NCPs. Austria considers the EU external aid programmes in general and Twinning in particular to be very important external relations tools; for this reason, the Austrian NCP is part of the Austrian Foreign Ministry.

How does it work?

The main reference for all Twinning activities is the Common Twinning Manual, issued by the European Commission and updated at regular intervals. Each project is subject to the Twinning rules in force when the Twinning contract is signed.

The Twinning Manual, along with other important information, is available from the Commission's Twinning website.