Proposal for a Regulation from the European Parliament and the Council amending Regulation (EU) No 230/2014 of 11 March 2014 establishing an instrument contributing to stability and peace

Impact Assessment Report – Executive Summary

Capacity Building in support of Security and Development

A.Need for action

The European Council conclusions of 19/20 December 2013 emphasised “the importance of supporting partner countries and regional organisations, through providing training, advice, equipment and resources where appropriate, so that they can increasingly prevent or manage crises by themselves”. In April 2015, the European Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy adopted a Joint Communication on ‘capacity building in support of security and development’ (CBSD). This Communication identified gaps in the EU’s ability to support building the capacities of partners in the security sector and went on to conclude that “there is currently no EU budget instrument designed to provide a comprehensive financing to security capacity building in partner countries, in particular its military component”. This is problematic, because “conflict, insecurity and instability […] lead to human suffering, forced displacement and dire development outcomes as recognised […] in the United Nations Resolution Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including Goal 16” on peace and stability.

Stability and security are essential for developmental efforts to take hold; indeed, they are part of comprehensive development policy strategies, which include fostering conditions for peace and human security. Identified gaps in support of CBSD hamper the EU’s ability to achieve external action objectives, including fostering conditions for peace, human security and sustainable development.

The general objectives of this initiative are those set out in Articles 21 TEU and 208 TFEU, and in particular:

to ensure that the EU’s development assistance to fragile developing countries is not undermined by situations of instability and conflict, by enabling all security actors, including the military, to ensure stability, peace, and law and order;

to foster the sustainable economic, social and environmental development of developing countries, with the primary aim of eradicating poverty, whilst complying with the commitments and taking into account the objectives approved in the context of the United Nations and other relevant international organisations.

The specific objectives are:

to contribute to improving the capacity of partner countries to prevent and manage crises by themselves;

to contribute to improving the effectiveness of security actors, including the military, within partner countries through the delivery of capacity building in support of security and development; and

to contribute to ensuring the respect of the rule of law, good governance, as well as enhanced civilian control and oversight over the military in third countries.

EU action is necessary and justified both on the grounds of the objectives laid down in the Treaty (Articles 21 TEU; 208 TFEU) and on the subsidiarity principle. EU Member States have called on the Commission and the High Representative to present proposals that would allow the Union to engage comprehensively in CBSD. Comprehensive and flexible EU support to the security sector would have the benefit of allowing short- and longer-term actions to bring on board all security actors in a country, and would allow for better coordination of such support.

B.Solutions

The negative effects of not addressing the problem result in a lack of effectiveness of the Union’s actions and its ability to contribute to stability and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, especially in fragile countries. The solution consequently leads to the need to put forward a proposal, which tackles the need to provide comprehensive financial support to all security sector actors, including the military, whenever the objective and the content of the intended type of activities can be demonstrated as clearly contributing to development policy objectives.

The options consider adjusting existing financing mechanisms within or outside the general budget of the Union and developing a fully-fledged comprehensive dedicated financing instrument. The options imply different degrees of change to existing secondary legislation and entail different timeframes. Favouring a possible immediate solution is identified as essential, in order to address the immediate challenges. Such an immediate option would consist of an adoption by the Commission of a proposal in 2016.

The impact assessment concludes that a revision of the Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace (IcSP) would be the most appropriate and effective short-term option. A fully comprehensive and long-term implementation of the CBSD initiative (i.e. including support to the military for defence-related purposes) would require combining a budget instrument (for development tasks) with another, possibly extra-budgetary, mechanism.

In addition to extensive consultations with Member States and other stakeholders in 2015, an online public consultation ran from 1 April to 27 May 2016 to give the public the opportunity to provide feedback. Of the respondents, 94% agreed that an effective, legitimate and accountable security sector in partner countries could contribute to peace, human security and sustainable development. Similarly, 85% of the respondents agreed that strengthening the governance of military actors, particularly in fragile countries, could lead to stability and the achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The public consultation, notwithstanding its non-representativeness, thus indicates that those consulted agreed on the need to act. In a non-paper, dated 15 April 2016, ten EU Member States emphasised that, in the short term, the IcSP constitutes the most appropriate tool in the area of CBSD.