# EUR-Lex - 52011PC0836 - EN

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# 52011PC0836

**Proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION on the position to be adopted by the European Union within the ACP-EU Council of Ministers concerning the multiannual financial framework for the period 2014 to 2020 of the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement /* COM/2011/0836 final - 2011/0396 (NLE) */**

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EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

The Partnership Agreement between the
members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) 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[1] provides
for the adoption of financial protocols for each five year period.

The multiannual financial framework for the
period 2008 to 2013 forms Annex Ib to that Agreement.

For the post-2013 multiannual financial
framework, the European Commission presented in its Communication ‘A budget for
Europe 2020’[2]
the overall volume (EUR 30 318.7 million in 2011 prices, i.e. EUR 34 275.6 million
in current prices) proposed for the 11th EDF for cooperation with
ACP countries and Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs).

The Commission is presenting a
Communication describing the main elements that could figure in the Internal
Agreement for the 11th European Development Fund, for the period
from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2020[3].

Annex I to the Cotonou Agreement also needs
to be supplemented accordlingly with an additional protocol for the 2014-2020
multiannual financial framework. So the Commission hereby proposes a new Annex
1c to be inserted in the Cotonou Agreement (The multiannual financial framework
for the period 2014-2020).

The structure of the multiannual financial
framework proposed for 2014-2020 and the share of the different EDF instruments
broadly follow those applied to the 10th EDF, with the exception of
the Investment Facility which will be financed from the reflows from the 9th
and 10th EDFs’ Investment Facilities. The assumption of the European Commission
is that an agreement will be reached by the European Union and its Member
States on laying down the financing mechanism (the 11th European
Development Fund), the exact period to be covered (2014-2020), and the amount
of funds to be allocated to that mechanism, for implementing the ACP-EU
Partnership, and that the Representatives of the Governments of the Member
States will agree on an Internal Agreement for an 11th European
Development Fund.

2011/0396 (NLE)

Proposal for a

COUNCIL DECISION

on the position to be adopted by the
European Union within the ACP-EU Council of Ministers concerning the
multiannual financial framework for the period 2014 to 2020 of the ACP-EU
Partnership Agreement

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the
Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 209 (2) in
conjunction with Article 218 (9) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the
European Commission,

Whereas:

(1)
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[4],
as amended in Luxembourg on 25 June 2005[5]
and in Ouagadougou on 22 June 2010[6]
(‘the ACP-EU Agreement’) provides for the adoption of financial protocols for
each five year period.

(2)
The European Union and its Member States, in
accordance with paragraph 7 of Annex Ib to the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement,
together with the ACP States, conducted a performance review, assessing among
other things the degree of realisation of commitments and disbursements.

(3)
[On ... ], the European Union and its Member
States have agreed to lay down the financing mechanism (the 11th European
Development Fund), the exact period to be covered (2014-2020), and the amount
of funds to be allocated to that mechanism, for implementing the ACP-EU
Partnership Agreement.

(4)
The Representatives of the Governments of the
Member States have adopted an Internal Agreement on an 11th European
Development Fund,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

The position to be taken by the European
Union within the ACP-EU Council of Ministers regarding the protocol on the
multiannual financial framework for the period 2014‑2020 shall be based
on the draft Decision of the ACP‑EU Council of Ministers attached hereto.

Article 2

After its adoption, the Decision of the
ACP-EU Council of Ministers shall be published in the Official Journal of
the European Union.

Done at Brussels, [...]

For
the Council

The
President

ANNEX
Draft

Decision of the ACP-EU Council of
Ministers of

adopting a protocol on the
multiannual financial framework for the period 2014-2020 under 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

THE ACP-EU COUNCIL OF MINISTERS,

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[7]
as amended in Luxembourg on 25 June 2005[8]
and in Ouagadougou on 22 June 2010[9]
(the ‘ACP-EU Partnership Agreement’), and in particular Articles 95(2) and 100
thereof,

Whereas:

(1)          The European Union and its
Member States together with the ACP States conducted a performance review, in
accordance with paragraph 7 of Annex Ib to the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement,
assessing among other things the degree of realisation of commitments and
disbursements.

(2)          The European Union and its
Member States have agreed to lay down the financing mechanism (the 11th EDF),
the exact period to be covered (2014-2020), and the amount of funds to be
allocated to that mechanism, for implementing the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement.

(3)          The protocol establishing
the multiannual financial framework for the period 2014 to 2020 should be inserted
into the Agreement as Annex Ic,

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Article
1

The Annex to this Decision is adopted as a
new Annex Ic 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, as
revised in Luxembourg on 25 June 2005 and in Ouagadougou on 22 June 2010.

Article
2

This Decision shall enter into force on the
day on which it is adopted.

Done at [...], [...]

For
the ACP-EU Council of Ministers

The
President

ANNEX

The following Annex shall be inserted in
the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement:

"ANNEX
Ic

Multiannual financial framework for the
period 2014 - 2020

1.
For the purposes set out in this Agreement and
for a period starting on 1 January 2014, the overall amount of financial
assistance available to the ACP States within this multiannual financial
framework shall be EUR 34 718.4 million, as specified in points 2 and 3.

2.
The sum of EUR 32 218.4 million under the 11th
European Development Fund (EDF), shall be made available from the entry into
force of the multiannual financial framework. It shall be allocated between the
cooperation instruments as follows:

(a)
EUR 27 658.2 million to finance national
and regional indicative programmes. This allocation will be used to finance:

–
the national indicative programmes of individual
ACP States ;

–
the regional indicative programmes of support
for regional and inter-regional cooperation and inte­gration of Groups of ACP States;

(b)
EUR 3 960.2 million to
finance intra-ACP and inter-regional cooperation with many or all of the ACP
States. This envelope shall include structural support to the CDE and the CTA,
and to the Joint Parliamentary Assembly. It shall also cover assistance with the
operating expenditure of the ACP Secretariat referred to in points 1 and 2 of
Protocol No 1 ‘on the operating expenditure of the joint institutions’;

(c)
EUR 600 million to finance the Investment
Facility in accordance with the terms and conditions set out in Annex II ‘Terms
and conditions of financing’) to this Agreement, under the form of grants for
the financing of the interest rate subsidies and project-related technical
assistance provided for in Articles 1, 2 and 4 of that Annex over the period of
the 11th EDF.

3.
The operations financed under the Investment
Facility, including the corresponding interest rate subsidies, shall be managed
by the European Investment Bank (EIB). An amount of up to EUR 2 500 million in
addition to the 11th EDF shall be made available by the EIB in the form of
loans from own resources and will be subject to a revision clause at mid term.
These resources shall be granted for the purposes set out in Annex II to this
Agreement, in accordance with the conditions laid down in the statutes of the
EIB and the relevant provisions of the terms and conditions for investment
financing in that Annex. All other financial resources under this multiannual
financial framework shall be administered by the Commission.

4.
After 31 December 2013 or after the date of
entry into force of this multiannual financial framework, whichever is the
later, balances from the 10th EDF or from previous EDFs and funds decommitted
from projects under these EDFs shall no longer be committed, unless the Council
of the European Union decides otherwise by unanimity, with the exception of the
remaining balances and reimbursements of the amounts allocated for the
financing of the Investment Facility, excluding the related interest rate
subsidies, and the remaining balances of the primary agricultural export
receipt stabilisation guarantee system (STABEX) under the EDFs prior to the 9th
EDF.

5.
The overall amount of this multiannual financial
framework shall cover the period from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2020. The
funds of the 11th EDF, and, in the case of the Investment Facility, the funds
stemming from reflows, shall no longer be committed beyond 31 December 2020,
unless the Council of the European Union decides otherwise by unanimity, on a
proposal from the Commission. However, the funds subscribed by Member States
under the 9th and 10th EDF to finance the Investment
Facilities shall remain available after 31 December 2020 for disbursement.

6.
The Committee of Ambassadors, acting on behalf
of the ACP-EU Council of Ministers, may, within the overall amount of the
multiannual financial framework, take appropriate measures in order to meet
programming requirements under one of the allocations provided for in point 2,
including the reassignment of funds between these allocations.

7.
The Parties may decide to conduct a performance
review, assessing the degree of realisation of commitments and disbur­sements,
as well as the results and impact of the aid provided. This review would be
undertaken on the basis of a proposal prepared by the Commission.

8.
Any Member State may provide the Commission or
the EIB with voluntary contributions to support the objectives of the ACP-EU
Partnership Agreement. Member States may also co-finance projects or
programmes, for example in the framework of specific initiatives to be managed
by the Commission or the EIB. ACP ownership of such initiatives at the national
level must be guaranteed."

[1]               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).

[2]               COM(2011) 500.

[3]               COM(2011) 837.

[4]               OJ L 317, 15.12.2000, p. 3. Agreement as rectified by
OJ L 385, 29.12.2004, p. 88.

[5]               OJ L 209, 11.8.2005, p. 27.

[6]               OJ L 287, 4.11.2010, p. 3.

[7]               OJ L 317, 15.12.2000, p. 3. Agreement as rectified by
OJ L 385, 29.12.2004, p. 88.

[8]               OJ L 209, 11.8.2005, p. 27.

[9]               OJ L 287,
4.11.2010, p. 3.