Twinning projects serve to realise certain parts of the EU acquis communautaire in a new member state or in a country aspiring for membership. The Bundesbank assists the partner central bank in achieving specific goals as regards establishing and developing its institutional framework. As this cannot be achieved overnight, twinning projects are spread out over several months and comprise a number of tailor-made measures.

The EU has set up numerous financial programmes, whose resources may, in principle, (also) be used to carry out twinning projects. Essentially, acceding countries and EU neighbouring countries may engage in twinning projects with member states. The countries which acceded on 1 May 2004 may initiate twinning projects as part of a transitional facility until 2007.

The countries promised funds as part of one of the EU programmes indicate to the EU what areas they wish to use the funds for in the form of twinning projects. The final decision is made jointly with the relevant unit of the EU Commission. The acceding country then draws up a precise project description (project fiche), listing the objectives and the measures necessary to obtain them. The EU advertises the project together with the project fiche in all of the member states, which may apply by presenting a proposal to conduct the project. A selection procedure then takes place and at the end the acceding country chooses one of the project applicants. A detailed twinning agreement is then concluded between the two countries and the EU.

The EU has compiled a twinning manual which forms the basis for all stages of planning and implementation. The regulations contained in the manual cover a range of items, from the application process and drawing up a budget to the final settlement and primarily aims to attain the agreed objectives and ensure a standard and accountable use of EU resources. Each individual project must of course comply with the relevant twinning agreement.

In order for a twinning project to be successful, it is important that both countries designate qualified members of staff and grant them the necessary leeway to plan and implement project activities. The twinning manual stipulates that a project manager be appointed by each counterparty to coordinate every stage of the project. Furthermore, the member state sends – although not for small projects – a residential twinning advisor (RTA) as well as a number of short term experts which are specialised in the required field. There must also be qualified contact persons in the partner country for these experts; in addition, a person is appointed to provide residential experts with organisational and linguistic assistance.

For reasons of efficiency and costs, twinning projects should mainly comprise measures in the partner country. These mostly take the form of advisory services or seminars and are headed by Bundesbank specialists. Foreign members of staff may also attend information visits at the Deutsche Bundesbank. All of the scheduled events are captured in a detailed work plan which is part of the twinning agreement.

Apart from diverse items in connection with the sending of a residential expert, the “eligible costs” listed in the twinning manual comprise mainly travel costs and fees for the short term experts and diverse material costs (translations, seminar documents etc). Furthermore, a subsidy is granted to the authorities of the member state for general staff and administration costs. Over and above this, both of the countries involved in the twinning project must also contribute to the costs of the project themselves; the authorities in the partner country assume, for example, the costs of the office furnishings for the residential expert as well as the cost of the flights for its own staff's information visits.

The twinning manual requires that project reports be written at regular intervals in which the progress of the project, the financial settlement and any risks associated with it are illustrated. There will be a concluding evaluation at the end of the project; a concluding report will summarise what has been achieved. The two countries involved in the project and the EU (as a supervisory body) are involved in all of the reports and evaluations.