2004/925/EC: Council Decision of 22 December 2004 amending Decision 2004/197/CFSP establishing a mechanism to administer the financing of the common costs of the European Union operations having military or defence implications (ATHENA)
Date: 2004-12-22
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: EU expenditure, EU financing, common security and defence policy, financial regulation, management

L 395/68

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

31.12.2004

II

(Acts whose publication is not obligatory)

COUNCIL

COUNCIL DECISION

of 22 December 2004

amending Decision 2004/197/CFSP establishing a mechanism to administer the financing of the
the European Union operations having military or defence implications
common costs of

(ATHENA)

(2004/925/EC)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the European Union, and in
particular Article 13(3) and Article 28(3) thereof,

In particular

the
commander.
Political and Security Committee has been consulted,
the Special Committee may modify the period during
which these costs shall be borne by ATHENA.’;

circumstances,

after

Whereas:

(b) the following paragraphs shall be added:

(1)

On 23 February 2004, the Council adopted Decision
2004/197/CFSP (1) which provides that its first review
shall take place before the end of 2004.

(2) When adopting Joint Action 2004/570/CFSP of 12 July
2004 on the EU military operation in Bosnia-Herze-
govina (2), the Council noted the need to consider in
the forthcoming review of ATHENA a number of issues.

(3)

Decision 2004/197/CFSP should therefore be amended,

‘6.
The Special Committee may decide on a case-by-
in view of particular circumstances,
case basis that,
certain incremental costs other
than those listed in
Annex IIIB shall be regarded as common costs for one
given operation during its active phase.

7.
The Council and the Special Committee shall be
informed by the Member States, through the adminis-
trator, of cost-sharing arrangements in which they take
part in the context of an EU operation.’.

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

2) In Article 21(3), the following sentence shall be added:

Article 1

Decision 2004/197/CFSP is hereby amended as follows:

‘These proposals
Special Committee decides otherwise by 15 March.’.

shall be deemed approved unless

the

1) In Article 14:

3) In Article 24(4), the following sentence shall be added:

(a) paragraph 2 shall be replaced by the following:

‘2.
Furthermore, ATHENA shall bear the operational
common costs listed in Annex II during the period from
the approval of the Crisis Management Concept for the
the operation
operation until

appointment of

the

(1) OJ L 63, 28.2.2004, p. 68.
(2) OJ L 252, 28.7.2004, p. 10.

‘However, when the operation is planned to last more than
six months, the balance of contributions shall be paid in
half-yearly instalments. In such a case, the first instalment
shall be paid within two months of the launching of the
operation; the second instalment shall be paid by a deadline
to be set by the Special Committee acting on a proposal
taking into account operational
from the administrator,
needs. The Special Committee may depart
from these
provisions.’.

31.12.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 395/69

4) In Article 28,

the existing text shall be numbered and
become paragraph 1, and the following paragraph shall be
added:

‘2. When payment is late by no more than ten days, no
interest shall be charged. When payment is late by more
than ten days, interests shall be charged for the entire delay.’.

5) In Article 29, the following paragraph shall be added:

The Special Committee may approve rules for the
common expenditure which depart

‘6.
implementation of
from paragraph 4.’.

6) In Article 38, the following paragraph shall be added:

appropriate

‘8.
Each Member State participating in an operation shall
provide information by 31 March each year to the admin-
istrator, where
the Operation
Commander, on the incremental costs it has incurred for
the operation during the previous financial year. This infor-
mation shall be broken down to show the main items of
expenditure. The administrator shall compile this infor-
mation in order to provide the Special Committee with an
overview of the incremental costs of the operation.’.

through

7) In Annex II, the first subparagraph shall be replaced by the

following:

of

costs

‘Incremental
accommodation
transport
necessary for exploratory missions and preparations (in
particular
fact-finding missions and reconnaissance) by
military forces with a view to a specific Union military
operation.’.

and

Article 2

This Decision shall enter into force on 1 January 2005.

Article 3

This Decision shall be published in the Official Journal of the
European Union.

Done at Brussels, 22 December 2004

For the Council

The President

C. VEERMAN