Re-examined proposal for a Council Regulation (EC) on decentralised cooperation
COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES Brussels, 08. 07. 1998 COM(1998) 408 final 95/0159 (SYN) Re-examined proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) ON DECENTRALISED COOPERATION (presented by the Commission pursuant to Article 189 c (d) of the EC Treaty) EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM (concerning the amendments by Parliament at second reading under the cooperation procedure - those accepted by the Commission and those rejected) On 31 August 1995 the Commission presented to the Council and Parliament a proposal Tor a Council Regulation on decentralised cooperation. Based on Article 130w of the Treaty, this proposal for a Council Regulation is subject to the cooperation procedure (Article 189c of the Treaty). According to the cooperation procedure, Parliament expressed its opinion at the first reading on 15 December 1995. ( )n 5 November 1997 the Council adopted a common position. On 1 April Parliament delivered its opinion at the second reading, adopting 17 amendments (EP 167. 396). Under Article 189c(d) of the EC Treaty the Commission is presenting a re-examined proposal incorporating those amendments that it accepts. The re-examined proposal lays down arrangements for the management of the budget heading for decentralised cooperation. 2 COMMENTS ON THE AMENDMENTS ADOPTED BY PARLIAMENT AT THE SECOND READING 1. ANALYSIS OF THE AMENDMENTS ACCEPTED/REJECTED The amendments adopted at the second reading fall into two categories: 1. Those introducing an acceptable change which the Commission has accepted: - Amendments 1 and 3 (new recitals) and amendment 4 (Article 1 ) are acceptable as they define the aims of decentralised cooperation and the use of the budget heading which the Commission intends to introduce; - Amendment 2 (third recital) and amendment 5 (Article 4) on the deletion of the financial reference amount as the Council does not enjoy sole budgetary authority in that respect; - Amendment 6 (Article 5(4)) which restores the provision in the Commission's original proposal relating to the necessity for measures to be taken to emphasise the Community character of aid. included - Amendment 7 (Article 5(5)(b)) which does not radically alter the meaning of the Article and has already been accepted at the first reading. Amendment 13 (Article 10, second paragraph) although there is little justification for providing "detailed" information in the "summary" to be included in the annual report, the Commission agrees to ensure that partners in operations are clearly mentioned. - Amendments 14,15 and 16 (re Articles 10, third paragraph, 11 and 12) which cut out some of the additional obligations included in the Council common position in relation to the provision of information about operations undertaken by the Commission and the results of evaluations. - Amendment 17 (Article 13, second paragraph) which deletes the limit on the period of application of the Regulation (cf. Commission statement on this point when the common position was adopted). This is consistent with acceptance of Amendment 5. 2. Those which are unacceptable and which the Commission has not taken up: Amendment 11, part 1, second sentence, and part 2 (re Article 8) regarding Parliament's involvement in the exchange of views on the general guidelines and the transparency of proceedings in this context. The Commission cannot accept this amendment as the approach advocated by Parliament does not comply with the 1 procedures approved in the Decision of July 1987 in relation to committee arrangements. - Amendment 11, part 1, first sentence (re Article 8) which, for the sake of policy consistency, cannot be accepted even though it alters the provision on committee procedures along similar lines to the Commission's original proposal, because it departs from the hard-won compromise agreed by the Commission when the Council's common position was adopted. - Amendment 12 (re Article 9) which concerns the Article providing for the annual meeting on the general guidelines and proposes its deletion as a logical consequence to the fact that its contents would be moved to Article 8 as a result of amendment 11, part 1, first sentence. As the Commission rejects the latter amendment, the provision in question has to be included at Article 9 as it appears in the common position. - Amendment 8 (Article 7(2)) regarding deletion of the provision introduced by the Council concerning the conditions for the processing and adoption of financing decisions by the management committee set up by Article 8 (all operations above a ceiling of ECU 1 million). Although the Commission asked for an expression of its disappointment at the amount of the ceiling chosen by the Council to be entered when the common position was adopted, it cannot agree to this change. Article 7(2) must be retained since it is linked to the introduction of Article 8 (setting up a type lib management committee) which was the upshot of a hard-won compromise in the Council which the Commission has endorsed (see above Amendment 11, part 1, first sentence). - Amendments 9 and 10 (Article 7(5) and (6)) designed to extend the opportunities for developing countries as regards their eligibility for contracts and introduce the possibility of preferential treatment (where the quality of offers is the same) for applicants from the recipient country and from developing countries in the same region. Although it appreciates the motives behind the changes proposed, the Commission cannot agree to them on the grounds of consistency with the solutions applied (with regard to participation in invitations to tender and contracts and to supplies) in similar provisions contained in several regulations adopted in recent years in the field of development cooperation. M RE-EXAMINED PROPOSAL FOR A. COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No /98 of on decentralised cooperation THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 130w thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission/ ) Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 189c of the Treaty,0 Whereas decentralised cooperation is a new approach to development cooperation which places the agents at the focal point of implementation and hence pursues the dual aims of gearing operations to needs and making them viable; Whereas the importance of a decentralised approach to development cooperation has been emphasised in the Fourth ACP-EC Convention, Council Regulation (EEC) No 443/92 of 25 February 1992 on financial and technical assistance to, and economic cooperation with, the developing countries of Asia and Latin America,*!) and the Council Resolution of 27 May 1991 on cooperation with NGOs and in numerous European Parliament resolutions; Whereas the budgetary authority decided to include in the 1992 budget a heading for the promotion of this approach in all developing countries; Whereas the budget heading for decentralised cooperation is intended to help bring about a real change in the long term to the Union's development cooperation procedures; 0) <>J No 1,52,27. 2. 1992, p. I. Whereas decentralised cooperation makes an important contribution to achieving the cooperation policy objectives of the Community as set out in Article 130u of the Treaty; Whereas administrative procedures should be established accordingly, HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: Article 1 The Community shall support operations and initiatives on sustainable development undertaken by decentralised cooperation agents of the Community and the developing countries, in particular those designed to promoter - a more participatory approach to development, responsive to the needs and initiatives of the people in the developing countries; -- a contribution to the diversification and reinforcement of civil society and grassroots democracy in the countries concerned; the mobilisation of decentralised cooperation agents in the Community and the developing countries in pursuit of these objectives within the structured programmes. All developing countries shall be eligible for operations to promote decentralised cooperation. Article 2 The priority fields for operations under this Regulation shall be: - the development of human and technical resources and local rural or urban social and economic development in the developing countries; information and the mobilisation of decentralised cooperation agents; support for institutional building and strengthening the capacity of cooperation agents for action; - methodological back-up and follow-up for operations. Article 3 The cooperation partners eligible for financial support under this Regulation are decentralised cooperation agents in the Community or the developing countries, namely: local authorities, non-governmental organisations, local traders' associations and local citizens' groups, cooperatives, trade unions, women's and youth organisations, teaching and research institutions, churches and any non-governmental associations likely to contribute to development. Article 4 1. The annual appropriations shall be authorised by the budgetary authority within the limits of the financial perspective. 2. The budgetary authority shall determine the appropriations available for each financial year taking account of the principles of sound financial management referred to in Article 2 of the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities. Article 5 1. The instruments to be employed in the course of the operations referred to in Article 1 shall include studies, technical assistance, training or other services, supplies and works, along with audits and evaluation and monitoring missions. 2. Community financing may cover both investment expenditure, with the exception of the purchase of buildings, and, since the project must, if possible, aim at medium-term viability, recurring expenditure (including administrative, maintenance and operating expenditure). 3. A contribution from the partners defined in Article 3 shall be sought for each cooperation operation. The contribution shall be requested according to their means and the nature of the operation concerned. 4. Opportunities may be sought for cofinancing with other fund providers, and especially with Member States. Necessary measures will be taken to emphasise the Community character of aid provided under this Regulation. 3 5. In order to attain the objectives of coherence and complementarity laid down in the Treaty, and with the aim of guaranteeing optimum efficiency of the totality of these operations, the Commission may take all necessary coordination measures, including in particular: (a) the establishment of a system for the systematic exchange and analysis of information on operations financed or for which financing is envisaged by the Community and the Member States; (b) on-the-spot coordination of these operations by means of exchange of information between the representatives of the Commission and Member States in the recipient country or countries concerned. Article 6 Financial support under this Regulation shall be in the form of grants. Article 7 1. The Commission shall appraise, decide and administer operations covered by this Regulation according to the budgetary and other procedures in force, and in particular those laid down in the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities. 2. Decisions relating to grants of more than ECU 1 million for individual operations financed under this Regulation and any amendment involving an increase of more than 20% in the amount initially approved for such an operation shall be adopted under the procedure laid down in Article 8. 3. Project and programme evaluation shall take into account the following factors: - effectiveness and viability of operations; - cultural and. social aspects, aspects relating to equal opportunity for men and women, and the environment; institutional development necessary to achieve objectives of the operation; experience gained from operations of the same kind. 4. All financing agreements or contracts concluded under this Regulation shall provide for the Commission and the Court of Auditors to conduct on-the-spot checks according to the usual procedures laid down by the Commission under the rules in force, and in particular those in the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities. 5. Participation in invitations to tender and the award of contracts shall be open on equal terms to all natural and legal persons of the Member States and of the recipient country. It may be extended to other developing countries and, in exceptional cases, where circumstances warrant, to other third countries. 6. Supplies shall originate in the Member States, the recipient country or other developing countries. In exceptional cases, where circumstances warrant, supplies may originate in other third countries. Article 8 1. The Commission shall be assisted by the geographically determined Committee competent for development. 2. The Commission representative shall submit to the Committee a draft of the measures to be taken. The Committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft within a time limit which the Chairman may lay down according to the urgency of the matter. The opinion shall be delivered by the majority laid down in Article 148(2) of the Treaty in the case of decisions which the Council is required to adopt on a proposal from the Commission. The votes of the representatives of the Member States within the Committee shall be weighted in the manner set out in that Article. The Chairman shall not vote. 3. (a) The Commission shall adopt the measures envisaged which shall apply immediately. (b) However, if they are not in accordance with the opinion of the Committee, they shall be communicated by the Commission to the Council forthwith. In that event: the Commission shall defer application of the measures which it has decided on for a period of one month from the date of such communication; 3 - the Council, acting by a qualified majority, may take a different decision within the time limit referred to in the first indent. Article 9 The Committee referred to in Article 8 shall meet once a year to discuss general guidelines presented by the Commission representative for operations in the year ahead. Article 10 After each budget year, the Commission shall submit an annual report to the European Parliament and the Council, summarising the operations financed in the course of that year and evaluating the implementation of this Regulation in that period. The summary shall in particular give details of the decentralised cooperation agents with whom contracts have been concluded. Article 11 The Commission shall make a regular evaluation of operations financed by the Community, in order to establish whether the objectives targeted by these operations have been attained and in order to give indications to improve the effectiveness of future operations. Article 12 This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities. This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. Done at Luxembourg, For the Council The President A-o ISSN 0254-1475 COM(98) 408 final DOCUMENTS EN 11 06 02 Calalogue number : CB-CO-98-4I9-EN-C ISBN 92-78-37536-5 Office for Official Publications of the European Communities L-2985 Luxembourg Li