COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS on the establishment of an Intergovernmental Agreement for the operations of the European Earth monitoring programme (GMES) from 2014 to 2020
Date: 2012-05-11
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, EU programme, international agreement, satellite, space research

EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Brussels, 11.5.2012  
COM(2012) 218 final 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

on the establishment of an Intergovernmental Agreement for the operations of the 
European Earth monitoring programme (GMES) from 2014 to 2020 

(Text with EEA relevance) 

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COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

on the establishment of an Intergovernmental Agreement for the operations of the 
European Earth monitoring programme (GMES) from 2014 to 2020 

(Text with EEA relevance) 

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

The  GMES  programme's  objective  is  to  develop  a  high-quality  European  Earth  observation 
capacity. At a time when EU's international partners are investing heavily in such capacities, a 
coordinated  EU  response  is  of  strategic  importance.  As  such,  GMES  services  will  bring 
benefits  to  a  wide  range  of  European  policies.  The  programme  also  represents  significant 
potential  for  economic  growth  and  job  creation,  in  line  with  the  Europe  2020  strategy  for 
smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. 

The future GMES programme: state of play 

In  its  Communication  entitled  “A  Budget  for  Europe  2020”1,  the  Commission  proposed  to 
fund  the  European  Earth  monitoring  programme  (GMES)  outside  the  next  multi-annual 
financial framework (MFF), given the limits of the EU budget to fund this type of large-scale 
project. However, the Commission is strongly committed to ensuring the success of GMES, 
and  in  this  context,  it  adopted  in  November  2011  a  Communication2  providing  the  main 
elements  for  defining  the  appropriate  governance  and  long  term  funding  of  the  GMES 
programme from 2014 onwards. 

In  particular,  the  Commission  proposed  to  set  up  a  specific  GMES  fund  with  financial 
contributions from all 27 EU Member States based on their gross national income (GNI), in a 
model similar to that of the European Development Fund. This implies the establishment of 
an intergovernmental agreement between the EU Member States meeting within the Council. 
The management of the fund should be delegated to the Commission. 

On 16 February 2012, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the future of GMES, 
stating a preference for financing GMES under the MFF. The Communication has also been 
debated  within 
through  an 
intergovernmental fund, but no conclusions were reached.  

the  question  of 

the  Council, 

in  particular 

funding 

Risks associated with delays  

Since its beginning in 1998, the GMES programme has neither experienced cost overruns nor 
significant delays. However, a possible discontinuity in the operations would be detrimental 

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COM (2011) 500 final of 29.06.2011 
COM (2011) 831 final of 30.11.2011 

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to the users, put at risk the investements made so far and the credibility of the programme. It 
would, moreover, lead to cost overruns. 

In  their  pre-operational  phase,  the  GMES  services  have  lead  to  significant  synergies  in 
national  or  regional  investments.  Since  the  beginning  of  2012,  two  GMES  services  are 
operational: the GMES Land monitoring service and the GMES Emergency Response service, 
which are now being used by their respective user communities. A discontinuity in delivering 
these services would create an important information gap and have a negative impact on users' 
activities. This would be true as well for the other GMES services that are delivered in a pre-
operational way, such as the GMES Marine and Atmosphere monitoring services, or for the 
GMES  Security  and  Climate  change  services  that  are  still  in  a  development  phase.  In  this 
respect, current uncertainties in the preparation of the operational phase are already hindering 
the commitment of stakeholders, being from the civil protection, environmental or scientific 
communities as well as private companies, notably SMEs of the downstream services.  

Uncertainties on the operation phase also risk leading to difficulties in the deployment of the 
space component, for which the first three Sentinel satellites will be ready for launch in 2013. 
The  European  Space  Agency  (ESA)  Council  of  April  2012  questionned  the  opportunity  to 
authorize  their  launches  without  more  clarity  on  the  operations  and  future  institutional 
arrangements.  Delaying  the  launch  would  lead  to  significant  extra  costs  in  particular  for 
stocking  the  satellite  in  appropriate  conditions.  In  addition,  the  recent  loss  of  ENVISAT3, 
which  has  already  served  well  beyond  its  nominal  life,  makes  Sentinel’s  data  even  more 
urgently needed by European users. 

While the position of the Commission in relation to the funding of GMES outside the multi-
annual financial framework has not changed, it remains committed to support Member States 
in  the  establishment  of  the  necessary  intergovernmental  agreement  and  to  prepare  the 
necessary  regulations  for  the  GMES  operations  in  a  timely  manner,  in  order  to  avoid 
disruptions of the programme.  

The  establishment  of  an  intergovernmental  agreement,  accompanied  by  a  regulation 
implementing that agreement and a financial regulation, will take some time. As they have to 
be  in  place  on  1st  January  2014,  the  Commission  urges  the  Member  States  to  start  the 
preparation of the intergovernmental agreement without further delay. 

In  order  to  facilitate  the  ongoing  discussions,  the  annex  to  this  Communication  includes  a 
more detailed draft of the main elements of an intergovernmental agreement that can serve as 
a basis for negotiation.  

2. 

THE GMES FUND 

In  its  Communication  of  November  20112,  the  Commission  confirmed  that  the  maximum 
financial envelope needed for the GMES activities between 2014 and 2020 is € 5 841 million 
in constant prices.  

3 

ENVISAT is an ESA scientific satellite mission. It was launched in 2002 with 10 instruments on board. 
It is the largest civilian Earth observation mission. It arrived at the end of its expected life span already 
in 2007. 

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Three  options  among  the  possible  GMES  funding  solutions  were  explored  up  to  now,  all 
outside  the  financial  framework  from  2014  onwards:  a  specific  GMES  fund  (similar  to  the 
model chosen for the European Development Fund), an enhanced cooperation option (which 
would involve Member States with a strong interest in the programme) and finally, the option 
of industry participation where responsibilities and funding would be shared with economic 
actors. The Commission also indicated that in its assessment it does not favour the latter two 
options since on the one hand enhanced cooperation would put the EU-27 dimension of the 
programme at risk and, on the other hand, the experience gained with the Galileo project has 
already shown  that attracting and retaining the  private sector would  be difficult in the  short 
term and not in line with the public good dimension of the programme.  

For  these  reasons,  the  Commission  proposed  to  set  up  a  specific  GMES  fund.  This  fund 
should  be  based  on  contributions  by  all  27  Member  States.  Although  this  is  a  decision  that 
ultimately  falls  exclusively  within  the  remit  of  Member  States,  the  Commission  invites  all 
Member States to join in the effort, so as to ensure and consolidate the European dimension of 
the GMES programme. 

This would require an intergovernmental agreement between all EU Member States meeting 
within the Council. The main elements of such an agreement are further detailed in the Annex 
of this Communication.  

The  intergovernmental  agreement  would  specify  the  financial  contributions  from  all  27  EU 
Member  States  based  on  their  gross  national  income  (GNI)  covering  the  period  from  1 
January  2014  to  31  December  2020.  It  would  establish  the  “GMES  Council”  as  the  main 
supervisory  body  of  the  fund  primarily  empowered  to  adopt  the  general  budget,  to  approve 
execution of the budget and the accounts of the previous year, to approve the conclusion of 
any agreement with the Member States, third countries, international governmental and non-
governmental organisations, or national organisations of Member States. 

In order to ensure continuity of the programme, certain provisions of the GMES fund should 
be applied on a provisional basis from 1 January 2014 pending ratification by the 27 Member 
States. 

3. 

GMES FUND IMPLEMENTATION 

The intergovernmental agreement is the first step in building the GMES programme beyond 
2013,  which  should  be  further  developed,  as  regards  the  detailed  execution  modalities,  in  a 
regulation implementing it. 

The  regulation  on  the  GMES  operations  should  contain  rules  to  ensure  an  uninterrupted 
provision  of  accurate  and  reliable  data  and  information  on  environmental  issues,  climate 
change and security matters to policy makers in the EU and its Member States. It should also 
contribute  to  economic  stability  and  growth  by  boosting  commercial  applications  in  many 
different sectors through a full and open access to GMES information and observation data. 

Such  regulation  should  lay  down  the  rules  of  administration,  management,  execution, 
accounting,  audit  and  discharge  applicable  to  the  GMES  fund.  It  should  be  adopted  by  the 
Council  and  the  Parliament  upon  proposal  by  the  Commission.  It  should  also  contain  the 
provisions regarding the programming and execution of GMES actions, including the rules on 
the  delegation  agreements  and  on  the  award  of  contracts  and  grants.  It  should  also  include 

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adequate provisions to allow the Commission to rely on third party expertise in following up 
and monitoring the implementation of GMES. 

In order to safeguard the long-term duration of GMES, it is important that whatever structure 
is chosen, the GMES programme should have the necessary operational capacity – namely, in 
terms of resources and know-how, as well as the appropriate legal capacity to make use of the 
former and carry out the GMES actions to meet the programme's objectives in line with user 
expectations. 

4. 

CONCLUSIONS 

Considering  the  time  needed  for  the  preparation  of  the  necessary  arrangements  for  the 
operational phase, and the risk of discontinuity, the Commission: 

– 

– 

urges the Member States to initiate the necessary measures for the timely adoption of 
an intergovernmental agreement and of a regulation for the operations of the GMES 
programme and  

reiterates its commitment to support Member States in this process. 

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Annex 

Main elements of a draft INTER-GOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT  

on the establishment of an intergovernmental fund for the European Earth monitoring 
programme (GMES) for the period 2014 to 2020 

between  the  Representatives  of  the  Governments  of  the  Member  States,  meeting  within  the 
Council,  on  the  financing  of  the  European  Earth  monitoring  programme  (GMES)  for  the 
period 2014 to 2020 

THE  REPRESENTATIVES  OF  THE  GOVERNMENTS  OF  THE  MEMBER  STATES  OF 
THE EUROPEAN UNION, MEETING WITHIN THE COUNCIL, 

Whereas: 

(1) 

[Initial capital …]. 

(2) 

[Initial capital …]. 

(3) 

[Initial capital …]. 

HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS: 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

Establishment of the GMES Fund 

By this Agreement, the Member States establish among themselves a fund to finance 
the  European  Earth  monitoring  programme  called  GMES,  hereinafter  called  the 
“GMES Fund”. 

The  GMES  Fund  will  finance  all  operations  and  actions  of  the  GMES  programme. 
To that effect, it may make use of all financing instruments deemed necessary or best 
suited to attain the objectives of GMES. 

The  GMES  Fund  shall  have  a  Regulation  laying  down  the  rules  of  administration, 
management,  execution,  accounting,  discharge  and  audit  applicable  to  the  fund.  It 
shall  be  adopted  by  the  Council  and  the  Parliament  upon  proposal  by  the 
Commission. 

That  Regulation  shall  contain  the  provisions  regarding  functioning  of  the  GMES 
Fund  and  the  programming  and  execution  of  GMES  actions,  including  the  rules 
governing  the  delegation  of  powers  to  the  Commission,  the  rules  on  the  delegation 
agreements with agencies governed by Union law, bodies set up by the Communities 
and other specialised Union bodies, and national or international public-sector bodies 
or bodies governed by private law with a public-service mission., and the rules on the 
award of contracts and grants. 

In  addition,  the  Regulation  shall  lay  down  the  control  and  audit  obligations  of  the 
Member States in the implementation of the budget and the resulting responsibilities. 
It shall also lay down the responsibilities and detailed rules for each body to whom 

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budget  management  powers  are  delegated,  concerning  their  part  in  effecting  their 
own expenditure. 

Supervision and management 

The  GMES  Fund  shall  be  supervised  by  a  GMES  Council,  composed  of  one 
representative appointed by each Member State and chaired by the Commission. 

The  management  of  the  GMES  Fund  shall  be  entrusted  to  the  Commission.  The 
Commission shall undertake the financial implementation of the budget approved by 
the  GMES  Council  and  shall  undertake  the  financial  execution  of  projects  and 
programmes. 

The Commission shall implement the actions financed by the GMES Fund. To that 
effect, it may delegate execution tasks to 

(a) 

agencies governed by Union law;  

(b)  bodies set up by the Communities and other specialised Union bodies, provided 
that to do so is compatible with the tasks of each body as defined in the basic 
act;  

(c)  national or international public-sector bodies or bodies governed by private law 
with  a  public-service  mission  providing  adequate  financial  guarantees  and 
complying  with  the  conditions  provided  for  in  the  Regulation  implementing 
this agreement. 

When  doing  so,  however,  the  Commission  may  not  delegate  the  powers  it  enjoys 
under  the  Treaties  or  this  Agreement  where  they  involve  a  large  measure  of 
discretion implying political choices. 

For  the  recovery  of  sums  unduly  paid,  decisions  of  the  Commission  shall  be 
enforceable in accordance with Article 299 TFEU. 

GMES Council 

6. 

7. 

8. 

9. 

10. 

11. 

The GMES Council shall be empowered, by qualified majority, of two-thirds of its 
voting members: 

(a) 

to  adopt  the  general  budget  and  approve  the  execution  of  the  budget  and  the 
accounts of the previous year, together with the balance sheet of the assets and 
liabilities of the GMES Fund, after taking note of the external auditor's report; 

(b) 

to  decide  on  any  measures  of  financing  programmes,  including  through 
dedicated financial instruments; 

(c) 

to decide on the terms and conditions governing accession of third countries; 

(d) 

to  approve  the  conclusion  of  any  agreement  with  the  Member  States,  third 
countries,  international  governmental  and  non-governmental  organisations,  or 
national organisations of Member States. 

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12. 

The GMES Council shall be empowered, by simple majority of its voting members: 

(a) 

to decide on the adjustment of the annual contributions to the GMES Fund by 
its Member States; 

(b) 

to appoint the auditors and to decide the length of their appointments; 

(c) 

to adopt its own rules of procedure; 

(d) 

(e) 

to  adopt  recommendations  to  the  Member  States  concerning  amendments  to 
this Agreement; 

to  undertake  any  management  measure  not  entrusted  to  the  Commission 
warranted by the good functioning of the GMES Fund. 

13. 

14. 

The GMES Council shall decide by unanimity of its Member States on the exclusion 
of a Member State, the conditions of such exclusion, as well as on the dissolution or 
liquidation of the GMES Fund. 

Each Member State shall have a number of votes in the GMES Council, proportional 
to  their  contribution  to  the  GMES  Fund.  However,  a  Member  State  shall  have  no 
vote in the GMES Council if the amount of its arrears of contributions exceeds the 
assessed  amount  of  its  contributions  for  the  current  financial  year.  Member  States 
that abstain shall be considered as not voting. 

15. 

The total number of votes shall be 999, as distributed below: 

Member State 

Votes 

Belgium 

Bulgaria 

Czech Republic 

Denmark 

Germany 

Estonia 

Ireland 

Greece 

Spain 

France 

Italy 

Cyprus 

29 

3 

12 

19 

203 

1 

12 

17 

85 

157 

126 

1 

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Latvia 

Lithuania 

Luxembourg 

Hungary 

Malta 

Netherlands 

Austria 

Poland 

Portugal  

Romania 

Slovenia 

Slovakia 

Finland 

Sweden 

United Kingdom 

2 

2 

3 

8 

1 

48 

24 

29 

14 

10 

3 

6 

15 

31 

138 

999 

Total

16. 

17. 

The  GMES  Council  may  delegate  to  the  Commission,  by  mandate,  with  any  other 
competence  required,  beyond  its  management  powers,  the  task  to  achieve  the 
objectives of GMES and to revoke any such delegation. 

Composition of the GMES Fund 

The GMES Fund shall consist of EUR 5 841 million, at 2011 prices, contributed by 
the Member States based on their Gross National Income and shall cover the period 
from  1  January  2014  to  31  December  2020.  For  the  first  year  of  operations,  the 
Member States shall make available the following funds before 30 September 2013: 

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Member State 

Contribution key 

2014 Contribution in EUR4 

Belgium 

Bulgaria 

Czech Republic 

Denmark 

Germany 

Estonia 

Ireland 

Greece 

Spain 

France 

Italy 

Cyprus 

Latvia 

Lithuania 

Luxembourg 

Hungary 

Malta 

Netherlands 

Austria 

Poland 

Portugal  

Romania 

Slovenia 

Slovakia 

2,93% 

0,31% 

1,25% 

1,91% 

20,34% 

0,13% 

1,23% 

1,72% 

8,49% 

15,72% 

12,55% 

0,14% 

0,16% 

0,24% 

0,33% 

0,79% 

0,05% 

4,81% 

2,38% 

2,92% 

1,36% 

1,04% 

0,28% 

0,55% 

24 451 749 

2 573 644 

10 398 781 

15 917 693 

169 693 249 

1 056 893 

10 304 449 

14 378 433 

70 851 816 

131 203 971 

104 702 411 

1 183 430 

1 294 145 

2 004 516 

2 757 700 

6 553 633 

425 091 

40 095 555 

19 861 219 

24 377 945 

11 329 104 

8 681 881 

2 363 824 

4 616 893 

4 

Source: Eurostat 2012 

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Finland 

Sweden 

United Kingdom 

1,50% 

3,06% 

13,82% 

Total

100% 

12 521 438 

25 492 378 

115 336 728 

834 430 583

The GMES Council shall decide on the adjustment of the annual contribution of the 
Member  States  for  each  subsequent  year  based  on  the  revised  repartition  key  in 
accordance  with  the  respective  Gross  National  Income  of  the  Member  States.  The 
adjustment  decision  shall  be  executed  by  the  Commission  and  be  enforceable  in 
accordance  with  Article  299  TFEU.  Once  notified  of  the  adjustment  decision,  the 
Member States shall undertake to pay their amounts due before 30 September 

The  financial  appropriations  of  the  GMES  Fund  shall  no  longer  be  committed 
beyond  31  December  2020,  unless  the  Council  of  the  European  Union  decides 
otherwise by unanimity, on a proposal from the Commission. 

Contributions to the GMES Fund 

Each year, the Commission shall establish and communicate to the GMES Council 
by 30 September a statement of the commitments, payments and the annual amount 
of the calls for contributions to be made in the current and the two following budget 
years. 

These  amounts  shall  be  based  on  the  capacity  to  deliver  the  proposed  level  of 
resources effectively. 

Upon a proposal from the Commission, the GMES Council shall decide by qualified 
majority, on the ceiling for the annual amount of the contribution for the second year 
following  the  proposal  from  the  Commission  (n+2)  and,  within  the  ceiling  decided 
the previous year, on the annual amount of the call for contribution for the first year 
following the proposal from the Commission (n+1). 

Should  the  contributions  deviate  from  actual  needs  of  GMES  during  the  financial 
year in question, the  Commission  shall submit proposals to amend the contribution 
amounts to the GMES Council, which shall take a decision by qualified majority. 

The  calls  for  contribution  cannot  exceed  the  ceiling  referred  to  in  the  paragraphs 
above nor can the ceiling be increased except when decided by the GMES Council 
by  qualified  majority  in  cases  of  special  needs  resulting  from  exceptional  or 
unforeseen circumstances. In this case, the Commission and the GMES Council shall 
ensure that contributions correspond to expected payments. 

Each year, the Commission, shall communicate to the GMES Council by 30 October 
its  estimates  of  commitments,  disbursements  and  contributions  for  each  of  year 
following. 

18. 

19. 

20. 

21. 

22. 

23. 

24. 

25. 

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26. 

The  detailed  rules  for  the  payment  of  contributions  by  the  Member  States  shall  be 
determined by the Regulation implementing this Agreement. 

Other resources of the GMES Fund 

27. 

28. 

29. 

Should  a  new  country  accede  to  the  EU,  the  allocation  of  contributions  shall  be 
amended by a decision of the GMES Council.  

Financial resources may be  adjusted by a decision of the GMES Council  acting by 
qualified majority. 

Any  Member  State  may,  without  prejudice  of  the  decision  making  rules  and 
procedures  set  out  in  the  regulation  provide  to  the  Commission  contributions  to 
support the objectives of GMES. The Member States may also co-finance projects or 
programmes  in  the  framework  of  specific  initiatives  to  be  managed  by  the 
Commission,  the  EIB  or  any  Union  body  or  organisation  with  whom  the  GMES 
Fund  has  established  a  partnership  agreement  or  to  whom  certain  implementation 
tasks were entrusted.  

30. 

The Regulation implementing this Agreement shall include the necessary provisions 
for  co-financing  by  the  GMES  Fund,  as  well  as  for  co-financing  activities 
implemented by the Member States. 

31. 

Member States shall inform the GMES Council in advance of their contributions. 

Actions under the GMES Fund 

32. 

Operations of the GMES Services 

(a)  Operational activities of the GMES Services: 

– 

– 

global  systematic/routine  activities  for  monitoring  and  forecasting  the 
state of the Earth’s subsystems at regional and global levels covering in 
particular  marine  environment,  atmosphere  and  air  quality,  global  land 
and climate change monitoring services; 

regional/local  on-demand  activities  covering  in  particular,  emergency 
management, security and pan-European land monitoring services, within 
or outside Europe. 

(b)  Development activities consisting in improving the quality and performance of 
the 
existing  services,  developing  new  service  elements  and  fostering 
downstream uptake; 

33. 

34. 

Operations of the space component 

Operational activities of space-borne observations: 

(a)  operations of the dedicated space infrastructure (i.e. Sentinel missions); 

(b) 

access to third party missions; 

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(c)  distribution of data; 

(d) 

(e) 

technical  assistance 
requirements; 

to 

the  Commission 

for 

federating  service  data 

identification  of  observation  gaps,  contributing  to  the  specification  of  new 
space missions. 

35. 

Development activities: 

(a)  design and procurement of new elements of the space infrastructure; 

(b)  provision of technical support to the Commission for the translation of service 
requirements  into  specifications  of  new  space  missions  with  the  support  of 
space infrastructure operators; 

(c) 

coordination  of  the  development  of  space  activities,  including  developments 
aiming at modernising and complementing the space observation capacity. 

36. 

The operational activities of the GMES in situ observations: 

(a) 

coordination  of  the  provision  of  in  situ  data  to  GMES  services  with  ad  hoc 
administrative arrangements with the in situ operators; 

(b) 

coordination of the provision of third party in situ data at international level; 

(c)  provision  of  technical  assistance  for  the  translation  of  GMES  service  data 
requirements  into  specifications  of  in  situ  observation  infrastructure  and 
networks; 

(d) 

interaction  with  in-situ  operators  to  promote  consistency  of  development 
activities related to the GMES observation capacity. 

Participation of third countries and international organisations 

37. 

The  GMES  Council  may  conclude  international  agreements,  including  their 
admission to the GMES Fund, with the following third countries: 

(a)  European  Free  Trade  Association  (EFTA)  countries  which  are  Contracting 
Parties to the EEA Agreement in accordance with the conditions laid down in 
the EEA Agreement; 

(b) 

the  candidate  countries,  as  well  as  potential  candidates  included  in  the 
stabilisation  and  association  process  in  accordance  with  the  Framework 
Agreements,  or  a  Protocol  to  an  Association  Agreement,  on  the  general 
principles  for  the  participation  of  those  countries  in  Union  programmes, 
concluded with those countries; 

(c) 

the Swiss Confederation, other third countries not referred to in points (1) and 
(2), and international organisations, in accordance with agreements concluded 
by the Union with such third countries or international organisations pursuant 

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to  Article  218  TFEU,  which  shall  lay  down  the  conditions  and  detailed  rules 
for their involvement. 

Adoption and entry into force 

38. 

39. 

40. 

41. 

42. 

The Member States shall notify the Secretary-General of the Council of the European 
Union of the completion of the internal procedures necessary for the entry into force 
of this Agreement. 

This Agreement shall enter into force on the first day of the second month following 
notification  to  the  Secretary-General  of  the  Council  of  the  European  Union  of  the 
completion  of  the  internal  procedures  necessary  for  its  entry  into  force  by  the  last 
Member State to take this step. 

This  Agreement shall  cease  to be in force after 31 December 2020 and no legal or 
financial commitment may be made beyond that date.  

Without  prejudice  of  the  above,  all  payments  and  obligations  resulting  from 
commitments  undertaken  by  the  GMES  Fund  or  on  its  behalf  before  31  December 
2020  shall  be  satisfied  by  the  GMES  Fund  until  31  December  2023.  Beyond  that 
date, any pending obligations shall revert to the Member States. 

The Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union shall act as depositary 
for this Agreement which shall be published in the Official Journal of the European 
Union  

IN  WITNESS  WHEREOF,  the  undersigned  Representatives  of  the  Governments  of  the 
Member States, meeting within the Council, have signed this Agreement 

EN 

14 

   EN