# EUR-Lex - 52013PC0881 - EN

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# 52013PC0881

**Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION amending Council Regulation (EC) No 617/2007 of 14 May 2007 on the implementation of the 10th EDF European Development Fund under the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement for the implementation of the Bridging Facility /* COM/2013/0881 final - 2013/0429 (NLE) */**

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EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

The Internal Agreement establishing the eleventh
European Development Fund (11th EDF) was signed by the Member
States, meeting within the Council, in June 2013. This Internal Agreement will
only enter into force after ratification by all the Member States. This process will most probably not be concluded before January
2014.

The Commission has proposed transitional
measures (‘Bridging Facility’) to
ensure the availability of funds for cooperation with African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and
with Overseas Countries and Territories, as well as for support expenditure, between
January 2014 and the entry into force of the Internal Agreement establishing
the 11th EDF. This Facility shall be financed from balances and decommitted funds
of the 10th and previous EDFs. The funds committed under this Bridging Facility
shall be accounted for under the 11th EDF.

The Commission has also adopted a proposal
for a Regulation providing for implementation rules for the 11th EDF that
integrate the new orientations of the EU development policy in particular those
laid down in the Communication ‘Increasing the impact of EU Development Policy:
an Agenda for Change’[1],
and of the latest modifications of the Cotonou Agreement. This Regulation
cannot be adopted by the Council before the entry into force of the 11th
EDF Internal Agreement or before the adoption by the Council of a decision
allowing for a provisional application of some of its provisions. In the light
of the latest discussions in the Council, it is not expected that any of these
processes will be concluded before January 2014.

It is appropriate that actions supported under
the Bridging facilityare as soon as possible implemented using the same rules
as those foreseen for the 11th EDF. Therefore, the Commission
proposes that the Council Regulation on the
implementation of the 10th EDF be modified in such a way that the implementing rules which will apply to the
11th EDF also apply for the operational and financial management of
the Bridging Facility.

The negotiations for the 11th
EDF implementation regulation are not yet concluded in the Council (and
therefore the 11th EDF implementing rules are not yet stabilized). Hence,
this proposal will include in its annex the text of the provisions for the 11th
EDF once fixed, as soon as the abovementioned negotiations are over. In doing
so, the unicity of rules for the implementation of the 11th EDF from
2014 to 2020 will be ensured.

The Commission therefore suggests that the Council
adopts the attached Regulation, to be technically complemented in its annex in
accordance with the previous paragraph.

2013/0429 (NLE)

Proposal for a

COUNCIL REGULATION

amending Council Regulation (EC) No
617/2007 of 14 May 2007 on the implementation of the 10th EDF European Development
Fund under the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement for the implementation of the
Bridging Facility

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the
Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to the Partnership Agreement between
the members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States of the one
part, and the European Community and its Member States, of the other part,
signed in Cotonou on 23 June 2000[2]
(hereinafter referred to as the Cotonou Agreement),

Having regard to the Internal Agreement
between the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting
within the Council, on the financing of Community aid under the multiannual
financial framework for the period 2008 to 2013 in accordance with the ACP-EC
Partnership Agreement and on the allocation of financial assistance for the
Overseas Countries and Territories to which Part Four of the EC Treaty applies[3] (hereinafter referred
to as the Internal Agreement), and in particular Article 10(1) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the
European Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the
European Investment Bank,

Whereas:

(1)       Council
Decision of  [xx/xx/2013] establishes transitional EDF management measures
(Bridging Facility) to ensure the availability of funds for cooperation with
African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and with Overseas Countries and
Territories, as well as for support expenditure, from 1 January 2014 until the
entry into force of the 11th European Fund,

(2)       It is
necessary to modify the implementing rules of the 10th EDF for the
operational and financial management of the transitional measures (‘Bridging
Facility’) financing the transition period between the
10th and the 11th EDF until the
entry into force of the 11th EDF Internal Agreement and its
implementing rules, in line with the latter,

(3)       The
organisation and functioning of the European External Action Service are
described in Council Decision 2010/427/EU,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

For the purpose of implementing the
Bridging Facility, the provisions of Council Regulation (EC) No 617/2007 are
replaced by those laid down in the Annex to this Regulation.

Article 2

The application of this Regulation shall
be in accordance with Council Decision 2010/427/EU, establishing the
organisation and functioning of the European External Action Service.

Article 3

This Regulation shall enter into force on
the third day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of
the European Union.

It shall apply from its date of entry into
force and until the entry into application of the Implementation Regulation of
the 11th EDF.

Done at Brussels,

For
the Council

The
President

[1]               COM(2011)637

[2]               OJ L 317, 15.12.2000, p. 3. Agreement as amended by the Agreement signed in Luxembourg on 25 June 2005 (OJ L 287, 28.10.2005, p. 4) and by the Agreement signed in Ouagadougou on 22 June 2010 (OJ L 287, 4.11.2010, p. 3).

[3]               OJ L 247
of 9.9.2006, p. 32