WRITTEN QUESTION P-1352/02 by Didier Rod (Verts/ALE) to the Council. Incorporation of the European Development Fund (EDF) in the EU budget.
Date: 2002-05-06
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Community budget, European Development Fund, Spain, aid policy, inclusion in the budget

12.12.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 309 E/113

The Council welcomes the desire expressed by the signatories to extend the agreement to all Congolese
parties and urges them to pursue negotiations without delay in a spirit of openness in order to reach an
all-inclusive agreement on the transitional institutions. The Council also calls on all countries in the region,
particularly Rwanda, to exert influence on all the Congolese parties, particularly the RCD-Goma, to ensure
that they respect and support the desire for peace, democracy and reconciliation expressed at Sun City.

It is recalled that the EU has already allocated EUR 3,2 million to the mediation efforts of the facilitator
Ketumile Masire, former President of Botswana as well as the organisation of the Inter-Congolese Dialogue.

(2002/C 309 E/132)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1352/02

by Didier Rod (Verts/ALE) to the Council

(6 May 2002)

Subject: Incorporation of the European Development Fund (EDF) in the EU budget

According to our information, the Spanish Government is now the only EU government to object to the
incorporation of the EDF in the Community budget.

After 11 September, much attention has been paid and many promises have been made with regard to an
increase in development financing worldwide. At the same time, the Commission is undertaking an
extensive reform effort with a view to improving the performance of its external aid programmes.
However, the EDF, a cornerstone of EU relations with the South, continues to fall outside the remit of the
EU and remains in the hands of the Member States.

Why has the decisive move towards the incorporation of the EDF in the Community budget still not been
made? Does not the Council believe that, for the sake of a unified and coordinated approach, as well as in
the interest of higher efficiency, the EDF should be incorporated in the EU budget?

Has the Council planned any such move for the Johannesburg Summit to be held in late August as a
statement of European Union commitment to enhanced development aid and, if not, when can such an
initiative be expected?

Reply

(30 September 2002)

The Council’s position on the budgetisation of the EDF was reaffirmed by the Council on 19 and
20 December 1994 and remains unchanged.

At that time, having examined the Commission report on the options and detailed arrangements for
budgetising the EDF, the Council took the view that the present provisions for financing the EDF should
not be altered. This position amounted only to a confirmation of Declaration No 12 annexed to the Treaty
on European Union concerning the EDF and the judgment of the Court of Justice of 2 March 1994 (1)
rejecting the Parliament’s appeal for the annulment of the rules of procedure of the 7th EDF.

In this context, attention should be drawn to the Court’s conclusion to the effect that EDF expenditure was
not Community expenditure which had to be entered in the Community budget.

The Council is not considering reopening this question at the present time.

It should nevertheless be pointed out that when the resources were fixed for the 9th EDF, the Commission
made a statement according to which it intends to transmit to the Council before 2003, after an analysis
of the present system, a communication assessing the advantages and drawbacks of the budgetisation of
the EDF.

The Council will not fail to examine that communication at that time.

(1) Case C-316/91, ECR I-625.