COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union concerning the position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 1934/2006 establishing a financing instrument for cooperation with industrialised and other high-income countries and territories
Date: 2010-12-13
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU financing, action programme, cooperation policy, industrialised country

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EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Brussels, 13.12.2010 
COM(2010) 786 final 

2009/0059 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 
concerning the position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation of the European 
Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 1934/2006 establishing a 
financing instrument for cooperation with industrialised and other high-income 
countries and territories 

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   EN 

 
 
 
  
2009/0059 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 
concerning the position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation of the European 
Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 1934/2006 establishing a 
financing instrument for cooperation with industrialised and other high-income 
countries and territories 

1. 

BACKGROUND 

Date of transmission of the proposal to the European Parliament and 
to the Council 
(document COM(2009) 197 final 2 – (2009)/0059 COD): 

transmission: 
21 April 2009 
corrigendum: 
30 November 2009, 
amended:  
01 December 2009  
(entry into force of the 
Lisbon Treaty) 

Date of the opinion of the European Parliament, first reading: 

21 October 2010. 

Date of transmission of the amended proposal: 

[…]. 

Date of adoption of the position of the Council: 

10 December 2010. 

2. 

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSAL FROM THE COMMISSION 

In  the  framework  of  the  mid-term  review  of  the  external  action  financial  instruments,1  the 
Commission  made  this  proposal  in  order  to  fill  a  legislative  gap  namely,  the  EU  cannot 
finance  activities  which  do  not  fall  clearly  into  the  category  of  Official  Development 
Assistance (ODA) in forty-six of the EU’s partner countries around the world. 

This  is  because  the  Development  Co-operation  Instrument  (DCI)  regulation  (Article  2(4)) 
excludes  measures  which  do  not  meet  ODA  criteria,  that  are  set  by  the  Development 
Assistance  Committee  of  the  Organisation  for  Economic  Cooperation  and  Development 
(OECD/DAC)  (hence  “DACable”).  There  is  no  other  basic  act  which  allows  measures 
ineligible as ODA to be financed in the developing countries falling under the DCI.  

As  a  result,  some  types  of  actions  had  to  be  financed  outside  the  DCI  under  Preparatory 
Actions created in the budget by the European Parliament for this purpose (i.e. business and 
scientific  exchanges  with  India  and  China,  cooperation  with  middle-income-group  countries 
in  Asia  and  in  Latin  America).  These  Preparatory  Actions  ended  in  2009.  At  the  time  an 
agreement was reached between the Commission and the relevant EP Committee Chairs, that 
European students and teachers participating in the external part of Erasmus Mundus would 

1 

Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council: Mid-term review of 
the financial instruments for external actions COM(2009) 196 final of 21.4.2009 

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only be financed from the DCI until the end of 2009. Filling the gap should also ensure that 
some  energy  projects  and  public  diplomacy  activities  that  will  not  be  ODA-eligible  (e.g.  in 
Asia, Central Asia and in Iraq/Iran) can be financed. 

The proposal is limited in time to the period 2010-2013 and is limited in scope in terms of its 
policy content and budgetary implications. It does not prejudge any future proposals for the 
new generation of external relations financial instruments under the next financial framework.  

3. 

COMMENTS ON THE COUNCIL POSITION  

3.1. 

General comments on the Council position at first reading 

The  Commission  can  accept  the  Council  position  which  is  the  outcome  of  constructive 
negotiations  between  the  three  institutions.  It  is  in  line  with  the  essential  objectives  and  the 
underlying approach of the Commission’s initial proposal. 

A  compromise  text  was  negotiated  initially  by  Parliament,  Council  and  Commission  to 
achieve an agreement at Parliament’s first reading originally  foreseen in June  2010. To this 
end  trilogues  were  held  on  13  April  and  5  May.  However,  an  agreement  was  not  possible 
either in June or July because of the specific issues mentioned below.  

3.2. 

Main characteristics of the negotiated common position  

The Council position reflects the following key elements: 

•  It is in the Union’s interest to further deepen its relations with the developing countries in 
areas  such  as  economic,  commercial,  academic,  business  and  scientific  exchanges  – 
activities which even though in the EU interest, may not qualify as ODA. 

•  The instrument will finance measures which in principle do not qualify as ODA. 

3.3. 

Specific issues (amendments by Parliament not acceptable to Council): 

•  Delegated acts (Article 290 TFEU): Parliament seeks by its first reading amendments to 
apply  this  procedure  to  the  adoption  of  multiannual  strategy  papers  by  the  Commission. 
Despite  long  and  intensive  negotiations  (notably  trilogues  held  on  2  February,  23  March 
and 20 October) it was not possible to reach agreement on this issue. The Council has not 
accepted  these  amendments  in  its  positions  at  first  reading  The  Commission  is  ready  to 
continue efforts to reconcile the positions of the institutions and to find ways to meet the 
substantive  concerns  behind  Parliament’s  amendments,  in  particular  in  ensuring  that 
Parliament can exercise appropriate oversight over the formulation of external cooperation 
strategies and the proper implementation of external financial instruments. 

•  Article 16 on the financial reference amount: Parliament adopted an amendment to this 
article which the Council has not accepted in its first reading, preferring to retain the text 
proposed  initially  by  the  Commission.  The  Commission  supports  the  Council  position 
since it reflects the standard text on financial reference amounts which is included in every 
financial  instrument.  However,  in  order  to  facilitate  agreement  and  re-assure  the 
institutions, the Commission is ready to make the attached statement. 

4. 

CONCLUSION 

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The Council position incorporates a negotiated compromise text which reflects to a very large 
extent the European Parliament's requests and amendments at first reading. The Commission 
can therefore accept the Council position at first reading. 

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Industrialised countries instrument – Com (2009) 197 final 

Commission declaration concerning Article 16 

The  Regulation  addresses  the  issue  of  support  for  a  number  of  specific  non-Official 
Development  Assistance  (ODA)  activities  in  countries  covered  by  the  Development 
Cooperation  Instrument  (DCI  Regulation  n°1905/2006).  The  Regulation  is  intended  to  be  a 
one-off solution to this issue. 

The  Commission  reaffirms  that  the  eradication  of  poverty,  including  the  pursuit  of  the 
Millennium Development Goals, is the primary objective of its development cooperation and 
remains a priority.  

It recalls that the financial reference amount fixed in Article 16 for countries listed in Annex 
II  will  be  implemented  using  dedicated  budget  lines  which  are  intended  for  activities  other 
than Official Development Assistance.  

Furthermore, the Commission confirms its intention to respect the financial reference amount 
fixed in Article 38 of the Development Cooperation Instrument (Regulation n° 1905/2006) for 
the  period  2007-2013  as  well  as  the  provisions  in  the  same  Regulation  regarding  the 
fulfilment of the criteria for ODA. It recalls that on the basis of its current financial planning, 
this reference amount will be exceeded in 2013.  

In this context, the Commission intends to propose draft budgets which ensure a progression 
in development assistance for Asia and Latin America under the DCI Regulation n°1905/2006 
over the period until 2013 so that the currently projected ODA amounts under the DCI and the 
EU budget generally are not affected.  

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