The PHARE (Prescriptions & Harmonisation d'Accompagnem Rapides aux Enterprises) programme was launched in 1989 following the collapse of the communist regimes in central and eastern Europe and is intended to help those countries reconstruct their economies. It covers 15 countries: Poland, Hungary, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. The revamped PHARE programme has a budget of over eur 10 billion for the period 2000-2006 and has two specific priorities, namely, institution building and financing investments.

The PHARE programme was launched in 1989 to help the countries of Central and Eastern Europe to rebuild their economies. It is the main financial instrument for the pre-accession strategy. (See Enlargement; ISPA; SAPARD.)

Primarily provides funding to assist Central and Eastern European countries through institution building and the financing of investments.