COMMISSION STAFF WORKING PAPER EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT
Date: 2011-12-07
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU financing, European neighbourhood policy, international cooperation

EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Brussels, 7.12.2011 
SEC(2011) 1467 final 

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING PAPER 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT 

Accompanying the document 

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 

laying down general provisions establishing a European Neighbourhood Instrument 

{COM(2011) 839 final} 
{SEC(2011) 1466 final} 

 
 
 
 
  
 
The Treaty on European Union (TEU) in its article 8 provides for developing by the European 
Union (EU) of a special relationship with neighbouring countries, aiming to establish an area 
of  prosperity  and  good  neighbourliness  at  the  EU’s  borders,  founded  on  the  values  of  the 
Union and characterized by close and peaceful relations based on cooperation. This dedicated 
article  was  introduced  by  the  Lisbon  Treaty  and  emphasises  the  growing  importance  of  the 
EU relationship with its neighbours.  

The  European  Neighbourhood  Policy  (ENP)  was  developed  in  2004  and  is  addressed  to  16 
partners to the East and South of the EU’s borders, namely to Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, 
Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, the Republic of Moldova, Morocco, 
the occupied Palestinian territory, Syria, Tunisia and Ukraine. Within the ENP the EU offers 
the neighbours a privileged relationship, building upon a mutual commitment to values such 
as  democracy  and  human  rights,  rule  of  law,  good  governance,  market  economy  principles 
and  sustainable  development.  The  policy  also  provides  for  political  association  and  deeper 
economic integration, increased mobility and enhanced people-to-people contacts. The ENP is 
supported  through  a  dedicated  instrument,  the  European  Neighbourhood  and  Partnership 
Instrument  (ENPI),  which  covers  the  16  above-mentioned  partner  countries  as  well  as  the 
Russian Federation. 

1. 

PROBLEM DEFINITION 

A number of important developments have taken place since the launch of the ENP, including 
deepening  of  relationship  with  the  partners,  launch  of  regional  initiatives  and  democratic 
transition processes in the Southern Neighbourhood. The evolving relationship and changing 
political  context  called  for  a  review  of  the  ENP.  As  a  result,  a  new  ENP  vision  has  been 
developed as outlined in the Joint Communication of the High Representative of the EU for 
Foreign  Affairs  and  Security  Policy  and  the  European  Commission  “A  new  response  to  a 
changing Neighbourhood”, adopted on 25 May 2011. This new approach provides notably for 
greater  support  to  partners  committed  to  building  democratic  societies  and  undertaking 
reforms, in line with “more for more” and "mutual accountability" principles. 

2. 

ANALYSIS OF SUBSIDIARITY 

In  neighbourhood  countries  where  alignment  to  EU  rules  and  standards  is  one  of  the  key 
policy objectives, the EU is best placed to deliver this assistance. Some specific support can 
only be provided at EU level, such as promoting progressive economic integration in the EU 
internal  market,  access  to  the  Schengen  space or  participation  in  EU  programmes.  Thus  the 
EU is the leading cooperation partner in most of the ENP countries, a role widely recognised 
by  Member  States,  International  Financial  Institutions  and  other  donors.  Helping  the  EU 
neighbours  to  align  with  EU  policies,  rules  and  standards  is  a  key  driver  for  reforms  in  the 
ENP partner countries.  

With 27 Member States acting within common policies and strategies, the EU alone has the 
critical weight to respond to global challenges. The action of Member States can be limited 
and fragmented, with projects which are often too small to make a sustainable difference in 
the field. Streamlining the work of Member States through the EU enables better coordination 
and makes EU work more effective.  

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At  a  time  of  budgetary  restrictions,  when  several  Member  States  have  chosen  to  exit  entire 
sectors of cooperation and withdraw from supporting certain countries, the EU is able to play 
an active role in promoting democracy, peace, stability, prosperity and poverty reduction in its 
Neighbourhood.  In  this  context,  it  makes  more  sense  than  ever  from  a  purely  economic 
perspective to channel aid at EU level where a real difference can be made. Working with the 
EU is also cheaper. Administrative costs are lower than the average administrative costs of the 
principal donors for bilateral aid. 

3. 

OBJECTIVES OF EU INITIATIVE 

The  European  Neighbourhood  Policy  aims  at  establishing  an  area  of  prosperity  and  good 
neighbourliness  at  the  EU’s  borders,  notably  through  an  enhanced  political  association, 
economic integration and close cooperation in a number of sectors. In the period 2014-2020 
these objectives will continue to be supported by the EU through a dedicated financial tool, 
the  European  Neighbourhood  Instrument  (ENI).  The  ENI  will  provide  the  bulk  of  funding 
from the EU budget to the partners.  

In  order  for  this  instrument  to  achieve  the  ambitions  of  the  new  ENP  vision,  a  number  of 
specific objectives of the regulation, resulting from the evolving context, lessons learned and 
evaluations, will need to be met, notably: 

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applying the principles of  “more for more” and  “mutual accountability  in line with 
the  renewed  ENP  policy,  encouraging  neighbouring  countries  to  further  engage  in 
reforms; addressing the complexity and length of the programming of EU assistance 
in order to streamline, shorten and better focus the process; 

streamlining  the  scope  of  the  instrument  with  the  appropriate  balance  between  the 
flexibility of  the instrument  and  its  focus on the policy objectives and key areas of 
cooperation; 

adapting implementation provisions and improving coherence across external action 
instruments; 

improving provisions for the Cross-Border Cooperation to facilitate effective and fast 
implementation of the programmes; 

promoting  closer  linkages  with  EU  internal  instruments  and  policies,  including 
through  strengthened  cooperation  with  relevant  Commission  services  at  the 
programming stage and, where relevant, through  mechanisms  allowing for  possible 
pooling of funds from internal and external headings of the EU budget;  

responding  to  the  evolving  relationship  with  Russia  by  amending  provisions  on 
Russia’s eligibility to the ENI funding, reflecting the specific status of Russia as both 
EU neighbour and strategic partner. 

4. 

POLICY OPTIONS 

The impact assessment reviews four options:  

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Option  0:  "No  EU  action";  the  EU  discontinues  its  financial  support  through  a 
dedicated instrument for the Neighbourhood; 

Option 1: "No change"; cooperation with the countries concerned remains strictly in 
the framework of the existing ENPI Regulation, used as the baseline scenario during 
the analysis ; 

Option 2: "Adapting the current set-up"; the future legislative proposal should be 
based on the current ENPI Regulation with a number of modifications, responding to 
the  new  policy  context  and  specific  objectives  identified,  option  2  also  contains  a 
number of different sub-options on specific problems raised;  

Option  3:  "Tabling  a  completely  new  instrument"  with  a  different  geographic 
scope and focussing on objectives broader than or different from those of the ENP.  

5. 

ASSESSMENT OF IMPACTS 

The current set up (Option 1 – "baseline-scenario") offers assistance in a broad range of areas 
leading  to  a  number  of  positive  economic,  social  and  environmental  impacts  in  partner 
countries. Nevertheless, these impacts in the above-mentioned sectors could still be improved 
with more flexible mechanisms and more innovative approaches, e.g. concerning pooling of 
funds  or  the  use  of  innovative  financial  instruments.  Discontinuing  EU  action  (Option  0) 
would  substantially  reduce  impacts  in  all  three  areas,  and  endanger  the  sustainability  of  the 
impacts  achieved  so  far;  it  would  also  negatively  affect  overall  EU  relations  with  the  ENP 
partners.  With  a  modified  instrument  (Option  2)  the  positive  economic,  social  and 
environmental  impacts  achieved  through  the  current  set-up  would  be  further  enhanced; 
moreover further positive impact is expected notably on governance, through the application 
of  the  “more  for  more”  principle.  Option  2  thus  has  the  highest  positive  impacts.  Tabling  a 
completely new instrument (Option 3) would have negative impacts notably on the coherence 
of EU action with the ENP objectives and would thus affect the credibility of the EU in the 
region. 

Moreover  the  assessment  of  impact  also  focussed  on  the  necessity  and  value  added  of  EU 
action, as compared to action by Member States only. 

6. 

COMPARISON OF OPTIONS 

Based  on  the  analysis  and  weighting  of  the  different  impacts  (global,  economic,  social, 
environmental), Option 0 and Option 3 have not been considered as viable options that would 
allow for having the highest positive impacts and meeting the objectives of the revised ENP . 
Option  2  would  have  the  highest  positive  impact  and  offers  the  best  potential  to  adapt  the 
current  cooperation  framework  to  the  new  policy  context,  ENP  objectives  and  challenges 
identified through evaluations and lessons learned. Option 1 would be the second-best option 
allowing  for  preservation  of  positive  impacts,  without  however  providing  for  meeting  the 
objectives  of  the  new  ENP  vision  nor  for  addressing  challenges  and  specific  problems 
identified within the current set-up. The preferred option is therefore Option 2. 

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7. 

MONITORING AND EVALUATION 

As  the  new  ENI  will  be  an  enabling  Regulation  establishing  the  essential  elements  and  the 
basis for EU intervention, the specific cooperation objectives and actions for each country and 
region will be defined at the programming and implementation stages, including the expected 
results.  Specific  indicators  will  be  identified  at  that  moment,  taking  into  consideration  the 
particularities of the action in question. 

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