Statement by the Council on governance with respect to the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe

(2021/C 226 I/03)

Pursuant to Article 16 (1) TEU, the Council carries out policy-making and coordinating functions. The Council also contributes to the overall policy framework for the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2021/947 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 June 2021 establishing the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) – Global Europe as referred to in Article 7 of this regulation. The NDICI – Global Europe streamlines 10 former instruments into one broad and comprehensive instrument. This requires increased strategic guidance by the Council with regard to principal policy objectives and priorities of the instrument, including to ensure better coherence, consistency and complementarity with other relevant EU instruments and policies in pursuit of the EU’s values and interests.

While respecting the division of competences and roles between the EU institutions, and in order to inform its strategic guidance, the Council intends to regularly exchange views and follow up on the overall strategic choices for the programming, including the allocation of funding of the geographic and thematic pillars of the instrument, as well as on the use of the rapid response pillar and the mobilisation of the emerging challenges and priorities cushion.

These exchanges of views should also cover the monitoring of the optimal use of resources in relation to the spending targets, the suspension of EU external assistance under the instrument, as well as the results of geographic and thematic evaluations.

Furthermore, these exchanges of views should cover how the Union funding is being used to meet the objectives set out in the instrument, inter alia, the reduction and, in the long term, the eradication of poverty, sustainable development and the fight against climate change, consolidating, supporting and promoting democracy, rule of law and respect for human rights, and the use of the flexible funding mechanism on migration and how the application of the necessary leverage results in possible changes of funding.

The Commission is invited to provide relevant information to facilitate the exchanges of views with the Council and to take the positions of the Council fully into consideration.

Whereas the Council provides strategic guidance and ensures overall coordination, the Member States representatives in the Committee established by the NDICI – Global Europe Regulation will exercise their role in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011. The Committee should be convened in different formats in charge of specific areas of intervention, such as geographic, thematic and rapid response actions, to allow for the appropriate expertise to be mobilised by the Member States. Member States representatives should have regular exchanges of views with the Commission on the multi-annual programming of NDICI – Global Europe, particularly with regard to geographic and thematic pillars, the mid-term reviews and ad-hoc reviews of multi-annual indicative programmes. Member States representatives may request the examination of matters related to the implementation of the instrument. The Council invites the Commission to reflect the above in its proposal for the rules of procedure of the Committee.