The Council of the EU decided, on 23 January, to adopt a regulation amending rules on implementation of the EU’s Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA). The amendments were adopted to “clarify the rules of participation in the award of cross-border cooperation,” the Council said. The clarifications should ensure “coherence with other EU external aid instruments, in particular its Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument,” it added. The IPA offers assistance to candidate and potential candidate countries while they adopt a series of reforms to align with the EU acquis.