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 on the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA III) for the period 2021-2027
Date: 2021-09-10
Institutions: Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations, European Commission
Subjects: EU aid, EU financial instrument, European integration, European neighbourhood policy, administrative reform, cross-border cooperation, economic and social cohesion, economic reform, political reform, pre-accession aid

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 10.9.2021  COM(2021) 575 final 2018/0247 (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 on the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA III) for the period 2021-2027  (Text with EEA relevance)  
 
 
2018/0247 (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 on the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA III) for the period 
2021-2027 

(Text with EEA relevance) 

1. 

BACKGROUND  

Date of transmission of the proposal to the European Parliament and 
to the Council (document COM(2018) 465 final – 2018/0247 COD) 

14 June 2018 

Date of the opinion of the Committee of the Regions 

Date of the opinion of the European Economic and Social 
Committee 

6 December 2018 

12 December 2018 

Date of Committee of Permanent Representatives’ agreement on a 
partial negotiating mandate 

19 March 2019 

Date of the position of the European Parliament (Report) 

27 March 2019 

Date of trilogue 1 

Date of trilogue 2 

Date of Committee of Permanent Representatives’ agreement on a 
complemented partial negotiating mandate 

Date of trilogue 3 

Date of trilogue 4 (final) 

Date  of  political  agreement  in  the  Committee  of  Permanent 
Representatives  

12 December 2019 

12 June 2020  

28 October 2020 

4 December 2020 

2 June 2021 

30 June 2021  

Date when the AFET committee of the European Parliament voted 
to endorse the compromise agreement  

1 July 2021 

Date of adoption of the Council’s first reading position  

7 September 2021 

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2. 

OBJECTIVE OF THE COMMISSION’S PROPOSAL 

The  Instrument  for  Pre-accession  Assistance  (IPA  III)  is  a  key  component  of  the  Union’s 
toolbox  for  cooperation  with  the  Western  Balkans  and  Turkey  under  the  Multiannual 
Financial Framework (MFF) for 2021-2027.  

The  general  objective  of  IPA  III  is  to  support  the  Republic  of  Albania,  Bosnia  and 
Herzegovina, Iceland, Kosovo, Montenegro, the Republic of North Macedonia, the Republic 
of  Serbia, the Republic of  Turkey in adopting and implementing the political, institutional, 
legal, administrative, social and economic reforms required by those beneficiaries to comply 
with Union values and to progressively align to Union rules, standards, policies and practices 
(‘acquis’)  with  a  view  to  future  Union  membership  thereby  contributing  to  their    mutual 
stability, security, peace and prosperity.  

IPA III shall have the following specific objectives: 

(a)    to  strengthen  the  rule  of  law,  democracy,  the  respect  of  human  rights  and  fundamental 
freedoms, including through promoting an independent judiciary, reinforced security and the 
fight against corruption and organised crime, compliance with international law, freedom of 
media and academic freedom and an enabling environment for civil society, to promote non-
discrimination  and  tolerance;  to  ensure  respect  for  the  rights  of  persons  belonging  to 
minorities  and  the  promotion  of  gender  equality  and  to  improve  migration  management 
including border management and tackling irregular migration, as well as addressing forced 
displacement; 

(b)  to  reinforce  the  effectiveness  of  public  administration  and  to  support  transparency, 
structural  reforms,  and  good  governance  at  all  levels,  including  in  the  areas  of  public 
procurement, and State aid; 

(c) to shape the rules, standards, policies and practices of the beneficiaries listed in Annex I in 
alignment  with  those  of  the  Union  and  to  reinforce  regional  cooperation,  reconciliation  and 
good neighbourly relations, as well as people-to-people contacts and strategic communication; 

 (d) to strengthen economic and social development and cohesion, with particular attention to 
youth,  including  through  quality  education  and  employment  policies,  through  supporting 
investment  and  private  sector  development  with  a  focus  on  small  and  medium-sized 
enterprises (SMEs), as well as on agriculture and rural development;  

(e)  to  reinforce  environmental  protection,  to  increase  resilience  to  climate  change,  to 
accelerate  the  shift  towards  a  low-carbon  economy,  to  develop  the  digital  economy  and 
society and to strengthen sustainable connectivity in all its dimensions; 

(f)  to  support  territorial  cohesion  and  cross-border  cooperation  across  land  and  maritime 
borders, including transnational, and interregional cooperation. 

The agreed overall financial envelope is EUR 14.162 billion (in current prices). 

 This designation is  without  prejudice to positions on status, and in line  with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ 

Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence. 

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3. 

COMMENTS ON THE POSITION OF THE COUNCIL 

The  Council’s  position  fully  reflects  the  agreement  reached  in  the  trilogues.  The  most 
important changes it has introduced, compared to the Commission’s proposal, include:  

– 

Concerning the budget: 

– 

– 

– 

– 

a  modified  budget  for  the  instrument  in  line  with  the  July  2020  European 
Council  conclusions1  and  with  a  pro-rata  adjustment  for  the  amounts  not 
explicitly disaggregated in the conclusions;  

a reference to the contribution to the modified MFF overall spending target of 
30% of the EU budget expenditures supporting climate objectives; 

raising  the  spending  target  for  climate  action  to  18%  with  the  objective  to 
increase this percentage to 20% by 2027; 

adding a reference to the ambition to contribute to the MFF spending target  for 
biodiversity objectives of 7.5% in 2024 and 10% in 2026 and 2027; 

– 

Concerning the governance elements of the Regulation: 

– 

– 

– 

– 

an  additional  delegated  act  in  2021  covering  specific  objectives  and  priority 
areas  of  thematic  cooperation  (on:  Rule  of  law,  fundamental  rights  and 
democracy;  Good  governance,  acquis  alignment,  good  neighbourly  relations 
and  strategic  communication;  and  Territorial  and  cross  border  cooperation, 
Protecting and improving the quality of the environment, Strengthening access 
to  and  quality  of  education,  training  and  lifelong  learning  at  all  levels  and 
offering  support  to  cultural  and  creative  sectors  and  sport,  Fostering  quality 
employment and access to the labour market, Promoting social protection and 
inclusion and combating poverty). 

replication in  articles of  the headlines of the thematic priorities for assistance 
(annexes II and III). 

a statement from the Commission establishing a geopolitical dialogue with the 
European Parliament (full text in annex). 

inclusion 
Parliament 
of  European 
communications in the policy framework.  

resolutions 

and  Commission 

– 

Modulation and suspension of assistance 

– 

an additional recital and an additional provision on the possibility to modulate 
and/or suspend assistance in case of significant regression or persistent lack of 
progress  by  the  IPA  III  beneficiaries  in  the  respect  for  democracy,  human 
rights and the rule of law. A statement from the Commission will specify that 
provisions in Article [7a, paragraph 5] respects the powers of the Commission 
in the implementation of Union programmes, and the Union budget in general, 
and  is  without  prejudice  to  the  powers  entrusted  to  the  Commission  by  the 
Treaties and the Financial Regulation to suspend Union assistance provided to 
third countries. 

1 

EUCO 10/20, CO EUR 8, CONCL 4 

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– 

Financial provisions of the instrument 

–  Adding  few  exceptions  to  the  general  cross-referencing  to  the  NDICI 
provisions,  which  serve  the  purpose  of  ensuring  common  implementing  rules 
for the majority of Heading VI programmes. Those exceptions intend to bring 
indirect 
more  visibility 
management with beneficiary countries (IMBC), budget support and visibility 
provisions. 

to  certain  modalities  of  cooperation  such  as 

– 

EFSD+ 

–  detailing  further,  in  an  article,  the  governance  structures  that  will  advise  the 
Commission in the governance of the EFSD+ operations covering the Western 
the  Western  Balkans  Investment 
Balkans.  Recognising 
Framework, Article 11 allows for non-EU bodies, which participate in the Joint 
Fund for the Western Balkans to be associated to the governance. A statement 
from  the  Commission  will  recall  the  advisory  nature  of  the  Western  Balkans 
Investment Framework strategic board (full text in annex). 

legacy  of 

the 

– 

Names of beneficiaries 

– 

It  was  agreed  to  use  the  constitutional  names  of  the  beneficiaries,  except  for 
Kosovo  where 
the  EU-Kosovo  Stabilisation  and 
Association Agreement will be used. 

terminology  of 

the 

– 

Duration/Date of application 

–  Article 1 and Article 19 modified, establishing the Regulation for the period of 
the multiannual financial framework 2021-2027 in Article 1 (‘subject matter’), 
with  a  retroactivity  clause  for  application  starting  on  1  January  2021  without 
end date in Article 19 (‘entry into force’).  

– 

Migration 

–  Referring to migration within the objective of IPA III that relates to rule of law, 
democracy  and  fundamental  rights.  Agreement  on  the  wording  to  use  when 
referring to irregular migration (“tackle”) and on inclusion of ‘labour mobility’ 
in a recital on economic and social development. 

– 

 Visibility 

–  Reinforcing few additional aspects to reflect the different nature and scope of 

the IPA as well as some obligations for IPA III beneficiaries.   

– 

Objectives of the Regulation  

–  A  re-organisation  of  the  specific  objectives,  in  particular  to  give  more 
prominence  the  priorities  of  the  Commission,  namely  the  Green  Deal, 
connectivity and digitalisation.    

– 

Programming principles 

–  Reinforcing  the  text  in  Article  7  on  assistance  to  beneficiaries  and 
programming  approach  based  on  a  balance  between  performance  assessment 
and fair-share principle. 

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The  agreement  preserves  the  aims  of  the  Commission’s  original  proposal,  maintaining  the 
level  of  ambition  and  allowing  for  sufficient  flexibility  in  implementing  the  new  rules.  The 
Commission therefore supported the changes highlighted above. 

4. CONCLUSION 

The  Commission  supports  the  results  of  the  inter-institutional  negotiations  and  therefore 
accepts the position taken by the Council. 

5. STATEMENTS FROM THE COMMISSION 

The Commission has made three unilateral statements, which can be found in the appendix. 

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APPENDIX 

Statements from the Commission 

Statement by the European Commission on a geopolitical dialogue with the European 

Parliament on the the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA III) 

The  European  Commission,  mindful  of  the  European  Parliament’s  functions  of  political 

control laid down in Article 14 of the Treaty on the European Union, commits to conduct a 

high-level  geopolitical  dialogue  between  the  two  institutions  on  the  implementation  of 

Regulation (EU) No. 2021/XXX of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing 

the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA III). This dialogue should allow exchanges 

with the European Parliament, whose positions on the implementation of the IPA III will be 

fully  taken  into  consideration,  in  full  respect  of  the  Commission’s  ability  to  implement  the 

instrument, in line with its institutional responsibilities.  

The geopolitical dialogue will discuss general orientations on the implementation of the IPA 

III,  including  on  programming  before  the  adoption  of  the  IPA  III  programming  framework 

and  programming  documents,  and  concerning  specific  subjects  such  as  the  suspension  of 

assistance to  a beneficiary when it persistently  fails to  observe the  principles of democracy, 

the rule of law, good governance, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. 

The geopolitical dialogue will be structured as follows: 

i) 

ii) 

A  high-level  dialogue  between  the  Commissioner  in  charge  of  Neighbourhood  and 
Enlargement, on behalf of the Commission, and the European Parliament. 

A permanent dialogue at senior officials’ level with AFET working groups to ensure 
an adequate preparation and follow-up to the high-level dialogue. 

The  high-level  dialogue  will  take  place  at  least  twice  a  year.  One  of  the  meetings  may 

coincide with the presentation by the Commission of the draft annual budget. 

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Statement by the European Commission on the modulation/suspension of assistance in 
Article 8 , paragraph 5 of Regulation No. 2021/XXX/ of the European Parliament and of 
the Council of XX/XX/2021 establishing the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance 
(IPA III) 

The European Commission considers that the provision in Article 8(5) respects the powers of 
the  Commission  in  the  implementation  of  Union  programmes,  and  the  Union  budget  in 
general, as long as it is without prejudice to the powers entrusted to the Commission by the 
Treaties and the Financial Regulation to suspend Union assistance provided to third countries. 

Statement of the European Commission on the advisory nature of strategic boards as in 
in Article 12 of Regulation No. 2021/XXX/of the European Parliament and of the 
Council of XX/XX 2021 establishing the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA 
III) 

The European Commission recalls that as laid down in Article 12 of the IPA III Regulation, 
the Western  Balkans  Investment  Framework (WBIF) strategic board is  an advisory body to 
the  Commission.  This  is  aligned  with  Article  33  of  the  NDICI  –Global  Europe  Regulation 
(EU) 2021/947 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 June 2021, which refers to 
the WBIF and EFSD+ strategic boards. These strategic boards do not have decision-making 
powers in the context of the implementation of the EU budget. The Rules of Procedures for 
the WBIF strategic board will be established on this basis. 

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