Pre-Accession Structural Instruments - Matra Training European Co-operation on Environmental Infrastructure,  the Netherlands.
Period: 2005

To train participants in the use of EU financing instruments (Pre-Accession Structural Instruments or ISPA) more effectively in order to secure the implementation of essential environmental infrastructure projects & programmes with EU financing. The training involved:

• Providing a clear understanding of the requirements for compliance with EU environmental legislation that covers all stages in the policy cycle;
• Demonstrating how Member States (and Candidate Countries) have used best practice to secure full and effective implementation of challenging new directives;
• Providing delegates with a systematic approach based on specific tools that can be used to more effectively develop and implement investment projects & programmes involving environmental infrastructure;
• Demonstrating best practice in establishing the formal structures and preparing the technical programmes that are required by the EU;
• Highlighting the opportunities offered by EU funding programmes, the problems that have arisen in securing funds and implementing projects, and how those problems can be addressed;
• Creating an awareness and understanding of the likely direction of EU funding programmes for environmental projects after 2006, including both the new opportunities that will emerge and the new challenges that will need to be faced;
• Providing delegates with opportunities for networking both with their peers from other countries and with key international experts in the planning and implementation of environmental investment programmes.

The trainings have been fully organised by ECORYS in 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2005.Each year fifty government officials from Central and Eastern Europe have participated in this special training.