The European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) Cross-border cooperation (CBC) and Interreg NEXT (acronym for: “Neighbourhood External”) programmes extend the principles of European Territorial Cooperation (ETC) among Member States within the EU, better known as Interreg, to territorial cooperation between Member States and the Partner countries and territories in the Neighbourhood area. They cover both cross-border cooperation (CBC) on land borders and sea crossing as well as transnational cooperation programmes covering sea basins.
Cross-border and transnational (sea-basin) cooperation along EU’s external land and sea borders is a unique form of cooperation between EU MS and neighbouring countries. It provides the framework and opportunities for enhanced people-to-people contacts, cooperation and exchanges essentially at regional and local level, and involves a broad range of actors (local authorities, NGOs, Civil Society Organisations (CSO), universities and other stakeholders).
The overall objective (Impact) to which this action contributes is to enhance the implementation of the ENI CBC and Interreg NEXT programmes by providing technical support to the programme authorities, beneficiaries, and stakeholders as well as to the Commission during all phases of the programme cycle.
The specific objectives of this contract are the following:

• to enable participating countries to manage, implement and close the ENI CBC Programmes taking into account the disruptions caused by the Russian aggression against Ukraine;
• to enable participating countries to manage and implement Interreg NEXT programmes in the most efficient way and to ensure effective cooperation between the Member States and the partner countries;
• to support the Commission with the effective management, implementation and closure of ENI CBC/Interreg NEXT programmes;
• to provide support to joint secretariats (JS)/branch offices in order to improve the project development and management capacity of organisations eligible to participate in the ENI CBC and Interreg NEXT programmes – such as local and regional authorities, CSOs and other relevant players. These activities should benefit eligible partner countries;
• to provide targeted support to the beneficiaries of partner countries impacted by the Russian aggression against Ukraine in close coordination with managing authorities and joint secretariats;
• to increase the capacities of regional and local authorities and other stakeholders in partner countries, in particular Ukraine, Republic of Moldova and Georgia, with a view to support their EU Accession process;
• to stimulate coordination not only among ENI CBC/Interreg NEXT programmes but also between ENI CBC/Interreg NEXT programmes and other similar instruments. This would allow for exchanges of best practices among both Programmes and projects as well as increase the ENI CBC and NEXT visibility.