EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

1.CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL

•Reasons for and objectives of the proposal

The African Peace Facility (APF) was first established in 2003 within the framework of the Cotonou Agreement and is funded by the European Development Fund (EDF), which is outside the general budget of the Union. The APF has become one of the key instruments to implement the Africa-EU cooperation on peace and security.

Under the current 11th EDF, an amount of EUR 750 million was initially allocated to the APF for the period 2014-2020. This amount, which was based on APF commitments under the 10th EDF, failed to sufficiently take into account the sharp increase of the APF financial volume after 2012, which continued until 2015, when the Commission limited its funding to Peace Support Operations (PSOs) to 80% of the UN rate at that time for stipends paid to troops and police deployed in the framework of African-led PSOs. The introduction of this ceiling resulted in a stabilisation, but not a reduction, of APF disbursements, as savings obtained through the introduction of the ceiling on APF contributions to stipends were offset by an increase in the overall number of PSOs funded. As a consequence, demands for APF funding soon exceeded the available amount. The APF has therefore so far been replenished three times for a total of EUR 835 million: two replenishments of EUR 150 million each (decided on 24 September 2015 and 2 August 2016, respectively) for the Action Programme 2014-2016, and a third replenishment of EUR 535 million (also decided on 2 August 2016) to finance the Action Programme 2017-2018. The rise in demands has notably been due to the continuation of funding for existing operations (African Union Mission in Somalia - AMISOM), as well as the establishment of new PSOs (Economic Community of Western African States Mission in Guinea Bissau - ECOMIB, Multi-National Joint Task Force against Boko Haram - MNJTF, G5 Sahel Joint Force). Under the 11th EDF, the APF has so far committed a total of EUR 1,627.3 million. This amount is considerably larger than commitments under previous EDFs, showing the increased engagement of EDF funding in peace and security.

The COREPER decision of 10 May 2016 on the replenishment of the APF determined the resources available for the APF until the end of 2018, but it did not cover financial requirements for the two last years of the 11th EDF, corresponding to the APF Action Programme 2019-2020. Resources for the period 2019-2020 should be able to respond to the continuous needs of the African Union and African regional organisations to address ongoing and emerging security crises in Africa. The predictability and sustainability of APF financing needs to be ensured. APF financial needs up to the end of 2020 are currently estimated at EUR 814 860 000.

The objective of this draft proposal for a Council decision is to obtain the authorisation of the Council to use decommitted funds from the 10th EDF to replenish the APF with an additional amount up to EUR 445 860 000, of which EUR 431 000 000 will contribute to the financing of APF requirements up to the end of 2020 and EUR 14 860 000 will cover the support expenditure incurred by the Commission. These funds will be utilised applying the 10th EDF Member States contribution key. To complement these funds from the performance reserve (“réserve non-mobilisable”), additional funds will be mobilised for the APF from the 11th EDF National Indicative Programmes / Regional Indicative Programmes (NIP/RIP) reserve (EUR 369 000 000).

•Consistency with existing policy provisions in the policy area

The EU Global Strategy defines peace and security as one of the vital interests of the EU, furthermore stating that security within Europa is strongly linked to peace in neighbouring and surrounding regions. The renewed European Consensus on Development, adopted in 2017, establishes “peace” as one of its five focus areas and reaffirms the EU’s commitment to a rules-based global order, with multilateralism at its core. The APF is one of the key instruments for implementing Africa-EU cooperation on peace and security under the Joint Africa-EU Strategy adopted in Lisbon in 2007. At the 4th Africa-EU Summit in 2014, peace and security was reaffirmed as one of the five priority areas for the implementation of the Joint Strategy. At the 5th AU-EU Summit in November 2017, leaders agreed on four common strategic priorities for the period leading to the next Summit, one of them being "Strenghtening resilience, peace, security and governance". Building on the new European Consensus on Development recalling the security-development nexus and on the EU Global Strategy stressing the need for an integrated approach to conflicts, cooperation in the area of peace and security therefore continues to be at the core of the Africa-EU Partnership. It is in this context that the European Commission and the African Union Commission signed, on 23 May 2018, a Memorandum of Understanding on Peace, Security and Governance, which provides a framework for an enhanced AU-EU cooperation to address peace and security challenges. By allowing for the continuation of the APF activities until 2020, this proposal will contribute to serve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), in particular SDG 16 "Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels". The APF is normally financed from the Intra-ACP envelope of the EDF. The activities financed by the additional funds allocated to the APF from the performance reserve (“réserve non-mobilisable”) will remain in line with the general and APF specific objectives laid down in the Intra-ACP strategy. The additional funds will be used in accordance with the rules and procedures applicable to the 11th EDF. The programming of these funds will be established by the forthcoming APF Action Programme 2019-2020, which requires COREPER approval before being adopted by the Commission, as foreseen by Article 15(b) of the 11th EDF Implementation Regulation.

•Consistency with other Union policies

N/A

2.LEGAL BASIS, SUBSIDIARITY AND PROPORTIONALITY

•Legal basis