External actions: financing instrument for the promotion of democracy and human rights worldwide

The European Parliament adopted, by 579 votes to 34, with 24 abstentions, at third reading under the ordinary legislative procedure, a legislative resolution on the joint text approved by the Conciliation Committee for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 1889/2006 on establishing a financing instrument for the promotion of democracy and human rights worldwide.

The European Parliament approves the joint text.

It should be noted that the resolution is accompanied by a statement by the European Parliament and the Council which was confirmed by the Parliament in plenary:

Statement by the European Parliament and the Council on the use of Delegated Acts in the future Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2014-2020: the two institutions take note of the Commission Communication “A Budget for Europe 2020” , in particular in relation to the proposed use of delegated acts in the future external financing instruments and await legislative proposals, which will be duly considered. The document states that the future legal bases for the different instruments will propose the extensive use of delegated acts to allow for more flexibility in the management of the policies during the financing period, while respecting the prerogatives of the two branches of legislator. It is considered that democratic scrutiny of external aid must be improved. This could be achieved by the use of delegated acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty for certain aspects of programmes, not only placing the co-legislators on an equal footing but also ensuring more flexibility in programming.