In March 2023, the Council of Europe began the implementation of the third phase of the European Union/Council of Europe Partnership for Good Governance Programme (2023-2026). Partnership for Good Governance (PGG) is a regional programme, organised around country specific interventions and supporting alignment of national legislation and practice with European standards, according to the individual needs of the EaP countries. The programme builds on the achievements of the two previous EU/CoE PGG Programmes (PGGI 2015-2018 and PGG II 2019-2023). The country specific interventions are complemented by the regional actions in the PGG priority areas. In addition, the interventions were designed taking into account the priorities of EU accession perspectives, thus targeted assistance will be provided in the areas identified by the CoE monitoring bodies and EC opinions on EU membership, and the subsequent regular reports.

The thematic area of fighting against corruption, money-laundering and terrorist financing is one of the components within the overall PGG framework and consists of a regional and five bi-lateral projects for Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine.

Building upon the Council of Europe and the European Union policy priorities in the context of Eastern Partnership (EaP), the programme aims to assist these countries in their efforts to implement national reforms in line with European standards, among other, in the area of fight against corruption, money laundering and terrorism financing.

The Project “Enhancing national capacities for effective prevention and fight against economic crime in Armenia” aims to support the national authorities in strengthening the capacities of the country’s anti-corruption and anti-money laundering bodies, the introduction and application of new mechanisms to combat corruption and raise awareness on anticorruption and integrity.

In Azerbaijan, the project on “Preventing and fighting economic crime” will respond to the needs of the national authorities in the area of fight against corruption, money laundering, terrorist financing and asset recovery.

Similarly, the Project on “Consolidating and enhancing the institutional and operational frameworks for the prevention and combating of corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing in Georgia” is aimed to contribute to more effective and resilient legislative, institutional and operational frameworks in accordance with European and other international standards. 

The Project on “Enhancing the anti-money laundering and asset recovery regime in the Republic of Moldova” will respond to the current needs and deficiencies as identified by MONEYVAL and in the obligations contained in the European Commission Opinion on the Republic of Moldova’s application for membership of the European Union.

In Ukraine, the Project on “Enhancing anti-money laundering, counter terrorist financing and asset recovery regime” aims to ensure the protection of the national financial system from misuse for the purposes of money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing.

Finally, the regional project on “Strengthening measures to prevent and combat economic crime in the Eastern Partnership region” will strive to improve the effectiveness of the prevention and fight against economic crime in the Eastern Partnership region taking into account the international standards and good practices.