The European Union/Council of Europe Joint Programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye” is a co-operation modality developed by the Council of Europe and the EU to support compliance of Beneficiaries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo^*, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Türkiye) with European standards and the EU acquis in the areas covered by the Facility. Under the first and second phase of the Horizontal Facility, support was provided to assist the Beneficiaries in bringing their policies, institutions and practices further in line with the recommendations of the Council of Europe monitoring bodies and European standards. Efforts to further support the Beneficiaries in implementing sufficient reforms towards compliance with European standards and the EU acquis in the areas of rule of law, democracy and human rights, will continue under the third phase of the Horizontal Facility which begun on 1 January 2023 and will last until 31 December 2026.

Within Horizontal Facility, Action against Money Laundering in Türkiye is the first Beneficiary-specific technical cooperation project in the area of countering economic crime. The Action support the institutions in improving the effectiveness of the anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) framework, by focusing on the following objectives:

1. Strengthened management of money laundering and terrorist financing risks through preventive measures; and
2. Enhanced the capacity to fight economic crime through the effective use of financial intelligence and enhanced asset recovery mechanisms.
    

_{* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status and is in line with UNSC 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.}