Report from the Commission on the International Fund for Ireland pursuant to Article 6 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 2236/2002 {SEC(2004) 1196}
Date: 2004-10-13
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Ireland, establishment of peace, financial aid, international aid, peacekeeping, the EU's international role

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 13.10.2004 
COM(2004) 633 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION 

on the International Fund for Ireland pursuant to Article 6 of Council Regulation 
(EC) No. 2236/2002 

{SEC(2004) 1196} 

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REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION 

on the International Fund for Ireland pursuant to Article 6 of Council Regulation 
(EC) No. 2236/2002 

The  European  Union’s  long  standing  support  for  the  peace  process  in  Northern  Ireland  has 
been  best  exemplified  by  its  commitment  to  the  International  Fund  for  Ireland  (IFI)  since 
1989  and  the  PEACE  Programme  since  1995.  This  commitment  recognises  the  long-term 
nature of the peace process’ objectives, which have been widely supported over the years by 
the European Parliament, Council and Commission. 

Council Regulation (EC) No. 2236/20021 provides the current legal basis for the Community 
contributions for 2003 and 2004. Article 6 of that Regulation sets out the necessary elements 
for  an  assessment  of  the  need  for  support  beyond  2004,  and  its  submission  to  the  EC 
Budgetary Authority (European Parliament and Council of the European Union). This report 
and its annexes build on the 2001 Report on the International Fund for Ireland2, and fulfil the 
requirements for the assessment mentioned above.  

Since the 2001 Report, devolution has been suspended in Northern Ireland. The political and 
social situation of the region remains fragile and the continuing level of violence and division 
calls  on  the  EU  to  sustain  its  efforts  to  promote  peace  and  reconciliation  in  this  part  of  the 
European Union. On 18 June 2004, the European Council adopted the following Presidency’s 
conclusion in reference to the Northern Ireland peace process3 : “The European Council takes 
note  of  the  current  difficulties  in  the  peace  process  in  Northern  Ireland  and  supports  the 
efforts of the two governments in seeking to re-establish the devolved institutions. In order to 
support  these  efforts,  the  European  Council  calls  on  the  Commission  to  examine  the 
possibility  of  aligning  interventions  under  the  PEACE II  programme  and  the  International 
Fund for Ireland with those of the other programmes under the Structural Funds that come to 
an end in 2006, including the implications in financial terms.” 

Past European Commission reports have acknowledged the very positive contribution of the 
IFI's  activities  to  peace  and  reconciliation  in  Northern  Ireland  and  the  Border  Region  of 
Ireland thereby fulfilling its objectives, namely to promote economic and social advance, and 
to  encourage  contact,  dialogue  and  reconciliation  between  nationalists  and  unionists 
throughout Ireland. 

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Council  Regulation  (EC)  No.  2236/2002  of  10  December  2002  concerning  Community  financial 
contributions to the International Fund for Ireland (2003-2004). 
Communication  from  the  Commission:  Report  on  the  International  Fund  for  Ireland  pursuant  to 
Article 5  of  Council  Regulation  (EC)  No.  214/2000  -  COM(2001) 548  and  SEC(2001)1579  of  1 
October 2001. 
Presidency  Conclusion  No.  47–  Brussels  European  Council  17-18  June  2004;  Council  of  the  EU 
No.10679/04 (CONCL 2) of 18.06.2004. 

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The  current  round  of  EC  Structural  Funds  Programmes  (in  particular  the  PEACE 
Programme), which are the major instruments to promote economic and social progress in the 
region,  present  new  opportunities  for  the  IFI.  The  priorities  set  by  both  IFI  and  EC 
Programmes complement each other and this high potential for synergies needs to be further 
harnessed.  In  particular,  while  the  IFI  targets  mainly  economically  disadvantaged  areas,  the 
PEACE Programme targets a list of areas, groups and sectors identified as “most affected by 
the conflict”. Similarly, the cross-community and/or cross-border dimension(s) could become 
explicit selection criteria for all IFI programmes, as they now are for all PEACE priorities. 

The ongoing strategic review of the IFI activities augurs well for a “repositioning” in favour 
of community-based activities with a strong reconciliation dimension. Although the methods 
and  the  financial  scale  of  the  IFI  and  EC  Programmes  remain  quite  different,  it  is  expected 
that the ongoing strategic review will allow the IFI, together with its donors, to make progress 
along these lines. 

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The UK and Irish Prime Ministers wrote to the President of the European Commission in May 
2004  requesting  an  extension  of  the  EC  contributions  to  the  IFI  and  a  continuation  of  the 
PEACE  Programme  for  two  years  (2005-2006).  Romano  Prodi  responded  that  the 
Commission  was  keen  to  maintain  these  efforts  as  these  European  interventions  have  a 
genuine added-value in bringing communities together to address shared economic and social 
problems and opportunities.  

As reinforcing the solidarity between Member States and between their peoples is a core EU 
objective,  it  is  therefore  important  for  the  EU  to  remain  committed  to  these  objectives, 
alongside other international donors, and to renew its contribution to the IFI.  

In  this  context,  the  Commission  believes  that  funding  after  2004  should  continue  to  be 
provided on the basis of the observations made in this report, which could be reflected either 
in  the  future  Council  Regulation  on  the  EC  contribution  to  the  IFI,  or  through  other 
appropriate means of co-operation between the Commission and the IFI. 

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