On  4  February  2015  the  Council  of  Europe’s  Committee  of  Ministers  adopted  the Neighbourhood cooperation objectives with Jordan for 2015-2017, which were developed based on close consultations between the Jordanian authorities and the Council of Europe. These objectives establish the overarching framework of bilateral cooperation between the Council of Europe and Jordan and include the following:

• To consolidate the achievements of the co-operation implemented since 2012 through the “Neighbourhood Co-operation Priorities with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan  2012-2014”  and  to  initiate  new  areas  of  co-operation  in  line  with  national  reform priorities, based on the demand-driven approach, in fields of expertise of the Council of Europe.
• To facilitate the creation of a common legal space between Europe and Jordan, by encouraging Jordan to request accession to key Council of Europe conventions open to non-member States in conformity with the procedures described in the relevant conventions and by promoting  the  legal  harmonisation  of Jordan’s  legislation  with  European and  other international standards.
• To provide support to the development and to the effective implementation of new legislation in accordance with European and other international standards, according to the identified needs.
• To provide support to the setting-up and to the effective functioning of human rights institutions and new governance structures.
• To consolidate Jordan’s presence in Council of Europe’s instances (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)) and to encourage country’s participation in other Council of Europe structures as relevant.

In order to implement the abovementioned objectives the Council of Europe has commenced the implementation of the Programme “Towards Strengthened Democratic Governance in the Southern Mediterranean (South Programme II)”, building on the outcomes and achievements of the 1^st phase of the South Programme implemented in 2012-2014. The geographical scope of  the  Programme  covers  cooperation  with  countries  of  the  Middle  East  and  North  Africa (MENA)  region,  but  in  particular  Tunisia,  Morocco  and  Jordan,  who  will  act  as  the  main beneficiaries.

The Programme serves as the overarching framework for Council of Europe cooperation with Jordan in the following three priority areas: i) human rights; ii) rule of law and iii) democracy. The “rule of law”  area  includes  a  significant  component  on  “Fight  against  corruption  and  money-laundering”, which will be implemented as one of the Programme’s components in the form of a separate Project.