Further macro-financial assistance for Georgia

The European Parliament delegation to the Conciliation Committee, chaired by Alejo VIDAL-QUADRAS (EPP, ES), tabled a report at third reading of the ordinary legislative procedure. The report recommends that the European Parliament should approve the joint text approved by the Conciliation Committee for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council providing further macro-financial assistance to Georgia.

Vital MOREIRA (P&S, PT) was the committee responsible’s rapporteur.

The main aim of this file was to find an agreement on the procedure to provide macrofinancial assistance (MFA) to Georgia. The Council and the European Parliament had different opinions on how the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which entails the economic policy and financial conditions to which the MFA is subject, should be adopted. According to the Parliament this should be done by means of the advisory procedure as proposed by the Commission, but according to the Council the examination procedure would be more appropriate.

After a series of negotiations, and given the horizontal nature of this decision, the European Parliament and the Council reached, on 8 May 2013 during an informal meeting, an agreement on the basis of which the advisory committee procedure would be used for macro-financial assistance until EUR 90 million and the examination procedure would be used for amounts above.

These elements are set out in the draft statement adopted in plenary.

The other main elements of the compromise can be summarised as follows:

• agreement was also reached on a stricter wording concerning the disbursement of assistance;
• introduction of a recital in the MFA Georgia Decision clarifying that the use of the advisory committee procedure is confirmed as a general rule for assistance up to a threshold of EUR 90 million.