JASPERS (Joint Assistance to Support Projects in European Regions) assists the 12 Central and Eastern EU Member States in the preparation of major projects to be submitted for grant financing under the Structural and Cohesion Funds.

The aim is to increase the quantity and quality of projects to be sent for approval to the the services of the Commission. JASPERS' assistance, which is provided free of charge, is geared towards accelerating the absorption of the available funds.

As of 12 July 2010:

∙   67 assignments completed since 1 January 2010 

∙   307 assignments completed since start of operations (2006)

∙   Assistance provided to 431 active assignments

∙  133 out of 174 applications submitted to the EC since 2006 were assisted by JASPERS

∙   68 out of 82 application approved by the EC since 2006 were assisted by JASPERS

JASPERS aims to:

∙ improve the quality of technical advice available to project promoters

∙ enhance economic growth and job creation

JASPERS provides:

∙ technical assistance on critical path for project development

∙ technical assistance to submit high quality applications for EU grants

∙ assistance to projects to be co-financed by the EU, enabling timely acquisition of available funds

JASPERS is:

∙ managed by the European Investment Bank (EIB) 

∙ co-sponsored by the European Commission, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW)

∙ JASPERS' beneficiary Member States: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.