We strengthen good governance and administrative capacity across the Western Balkans, Armenia, Moldova, and Ukraine to accelerate their path towards EU membership. Through our Thematic Group on EU Integration, we support public administrations in navigating an increasingly dynamic and evolving accession process.

Our work focuses on the core building blocks of enlargement today - from accelerated integration and the phasing-in approach, to the revised enlargement methodology, cluster-based negotiations, effective transposition of the acquis, and implementation of the EU Growth Plan.

At the heart of our approach is building a critical mass of skilled, knowledgeable, and future-ready public servants. These professionals are equipped to implement EU-aligned policies, ensure legal approximation and compliance, and manage the majority of EU funds efficiently and transparently - thereby enabling gradual participation in the EU Single Market.

Our activities are structured around four interlinked pillars:

• Negotiation and communication capacity
  Through tailored capacity-building, we empower civil servants in accession negotiations, covering negotiation organisation, negotiation techniques, and strategic communication, enabling them to communicate complex EU matters effectively to key stakeholders and to clearly understand the role of national administrations in EU governance. This prepares administrations for future negotiations within EU structures and active participation in EU decision-making processes.
• Legal approximation and policy harmonisation
  Strengthening in-depth understanding of the EU legal framework, including horizontal rules and selected sectoral acquis, we empower civil servants to coordinate national and EU policies, ensure effective transposition, and organise and manage implementation across administrations.
• EU-funded project and programme management
  We build capacity for managing EU-funded programmes, with a particular focus on the EU Growth Plan and future European Structural and Investment Funds, including project design, implementation and evaluation, financial management and reporting, as well as transparency, accountability, and control standards.
• Implementation of the EU integration agenda
  While supporting administrations in translating EU integration concepts into practice with targeted programmes that clarify complex processes such as gradual integration and the phasing-in approach, we pay special attention to implementing Reform Agendas, advancing the fundamentals, and strengthening PAR measures.

Our ultimate objective is to anchor the regions firmly within the European Administrative Space -and to ensure that EU integration delivers real, visible benefits, bringing citizens closer to a shared European future.