EU financial support for the countries of the Western-Balkans can be divided into three periods. In the first period, between 1991 and 1999, the EC/EU has provided support (of € 4.4 bn) to these countries in the framework of various assistance programmes. As many of the actions have been of ad hoc nature (in most of the period, reacting to urgent needs of the countries in/after war), no structured approach could be seen; synergy effects could thus be very limited.
In the second period, between 2000 and 2006, the main instrument of EU financial support was CARDS (Community Assistance for Reconstruction, Development and Stabilisation) as part of the Stabilisation and Association Process. CARDS was characterised by a much more structured approach than the one used before. It included bilateral co-operation tailored to the specific needs of the Western-Balkan countries, as well as regional cooperation among them. In general terms, financial assistance to these countries (totalling € 4.6 bn (€ 5.4 bn including earlier commitments from PHARE and OBNOVA realised in the first year of this period)) has been concentrated on the areas of justice and home affairs, economic and social development, democratic stabilisation, environment and natural resources, administrative capacity building and other areas of assistance. From 2007, a new instrument, IPA (Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance) has replaced all previously existing pre-accession instruments, including CARDS. IPA provides a general framework for financial support (€11.5 bn between 2007–2013, including support for Turkey) for candidate and potential candidate countries. It has five components (transition assistance and institution building, cross-border cooperation; regional development, human resources development and rural development); all the five components are available for candidate countries, while potential candidates have only access to the first two components. Thus it has created an overall structure for pre-accession assistance, and found a form of differentiation based on the individual capacities of the countries concerned.
Looking at the three periods, there is a clear tendency from ad hoc actions towards a structured approach. This tendency also means that the forms and conditions of support are gradually becoming much more in line with the patterns of EU support used earlier (in the case of earlier enlargements). Especially the move to IPA seems to be a decisive step in this respect.

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