Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION amending Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2728/94 establishing a Guarantee Fund for external actions

(presented by the Commission)

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

1. Introduction

This amendment to the Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2728/94 of 31 October 1994 ("the Regulation") deals with the impact on the Guarantee Fund (the "Fund") of the accession of up to ten countries to the EU in 2004.

The Regulation established a Fund for external actions so that the Community's creditors could be reimbursed in the event of any default by the beneficiaries of loans granted or guaranteed by the Community. The accession of new countries to the EU changes their status from non-member country to Member State and, therefore, the Community loans and loan guarantees for loans in these countries are no longer been covered by the Regulation.

An amendment to the Regulation is being presented here by the Commission to fix the rules for an orderly transfer of these liabilities from the Fund to the budget. These rules will apply to similar situations arising under future accessions.

The proposed amendment also changes the deadline for the submission of an annual report on the situation of the Fund and the management thereof in the previous year to the European Parliament, the Council and the Court of Auditors.

2. The Fund and the proposed changes

The Regulation established a Fund for external actions so that the Community's creditors could be reimbursed in the event of any default by the beneficiaries of loans granted or guaranteed by the Community. The Fund is provisioned from the EU budget and has to be maintained at a certain percentage, the target rate, of outstanding amount of the loans and loan guarantees covered by the Fund.

The Fund covers the risk of loans and loan guarantees to third countries. The approaching accession of up to ten countries to the EU in 2004, implying that they cease to be third countries as of the accession date, will therefore affect the Fund as several of these countries have benefited from European Investment Bank ("EIB") loans guaranteed by the Community. It should be noted that there will be no Macro-Financial Assistance or Euratom loans outstanding in these countries at the time of accession.

In the case of guarantees issued to the EIB, these guarantees are issued with respect to loans granted in third countries by the EIB. When the recipient of a guaranteed loan fails to make a payment on the due date, the EIB asks the Community to pay through the Fund the amounts owed by the defaulting debtor in accordance with the respective guarantee contract.

The amendment to the Regulation stipulates that the guaranteed loans to the accession countries will no longer be covered by the target amount of the Fund as soon as they join the European Union and thus cease to be "third countries". It should be stressed that this does not mean a withdrawal of the guarantee from these loans, rather that a call on such a guarantee would have an impact on the EU budget directly. This implies that any call on the guarantee for these loans would have to be provisioned via a dedicated budget line and would impact directly on the contribution of Member States to the budget.

The accession to the EU of a country that has benefited from a Community loan or a loan guaranteed by the Community would give rise to a special transfer from the Fund to the EU budget. The amount of the transfer would be calculated on the basis of the outstanding amount of guaranteed loans and Community loans to the new Member States at the time of accession. The amounts of the loans would then be multiplied by the target rate applicable at the date of accession. The amount calculated that way is then to be transferred from the Fund to the EU budget.

3. Deadline for the annual report on the situation of the Fund and the management thereof in the previous year.

The availability of final data for the previous year only by the end of February, the necessary delay for drafting and the complex procedures (translations, inter-service consultations, written procedure) that have to be accomplished before an adoption of the report by the Commission have proven to be incompatible with the deadline for submission of the report, 31 March, foreseen in the Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2728/94. Therefore a new deadline, 30 June, for the submission of the report to the European Parliament, the Council and the Court of Auditors is proposed.

4. No modifications to the parameters

The report [1] prepared by the Commission in accordance with Article 9 of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2728/94 [2] concludes that no parameters of the Guarantee Fund need to be amended to take into account the enlargement of the European Union.

[1] COM(2003) [...].

[2] OJ L 293, 12.11.1994, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1149/1999 (OJ L 139, 2.6.1999, p. 1).

2003/0233 (CNS)

Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION amending Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2728/94 establishing a Guarantee Fund for external actions

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 308 thereof,

Having regard to Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community, and in particular Article 203 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission [3],

[3] OJ C ..., ..., p. ...

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament [4],

[4] OJ C ..., ..., p. ...

Having regard to the opinion of the Court of Auditors [5],

[5] OJ C ..., ..., p. ...

Whereas:

(1) The accession of new Member States is due to take place on 1 May 2004.

(2) In addition, the possibility of further accessions should be taken into account.

(3) The Communities have granted loans and guaranteed loans to candidate countries or for projects executed in those countries. Those loans and guarantees are currently covered by the Guarantee Fund and will remain outstanding or in force after the date of accession. From that date, they will cease to be external actions of the Communities and should therefore be covered directly by the Community budget and no longer by the Guarantee Fund.

(4) The European Investment Bank should inform the Commission of the amount of its outstanding operations under the Community guarantee in new Members States on the day of accession.

(5) The report [6] prepared by the Commission in accordance with Article 9 of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2728/94 of 31 October 1994 establishing a Guarantee Fund for external actions [7] concludes that it is not necessary to amend any parameters of the Guarantee Fund to take into account the enlargement of the European Union.

[6] COM(2003) [...].

[7] OJ L 293, 12.11.1994, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1149/1999 (OJ L 139, 2.6.1999, p. 1).

(6) In view of the amount of information needed for the annual report required by Article 7 of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2728/94 and the complexity of the procedures to be accomplished before submission of the report, the time provided for its preparation should be extended.

(7) Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2728/94 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(8) The Treaties do not provide any powers other than those pursuant to Article 308 of the EC Treaty and Article 203 of the Euratom Treaty for the adoption of this Regulation,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2728/94 is amended as follows:

(1) In Article 1, the following paragraph is added :

"All operations carried out for the benefit of a third country or for the purpose of financing projects in a third country shall fall outside the scope of this Regulation with effect from the date on which that country accedes to the Communities."

(2) The following Article 3a is inserted :

"Article 3a

On the accession of a new Member State to the Communities, the target amount shall be reduced by an amount calculated on the basis of the operations referred to in the third paragraph of Article 1.

In order to calculate the amount of the reduction, the percentage rate referred to in the second paragraph of Article 3 applicable on the date of accession shall be applied to the amount of those operations outstanding on that date.

The surplus shall be paid back to a special heading in the statement of revenue in the general budget of the European Union."

(3) In Article 7, the date "31 March" shall be replaced by "30 June".

Article 2

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

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels,

For the Council

The President

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