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European Neighbourhood Instrument 2014-2020

2011/0405(COD)

The European Parliament adopted by 616 votes to 50, with 12 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Instrument establishing a European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI II).

Parliament adopted its position at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure. The amendments adopted in plenary are the result of a compromise negotiated between the European Parliament and the Council.

General objective: the objective of the ENI II should be to ensure shared prosperity and good neighbourliness involving the Union and the countries and territories listed in Annex I to this Regulation by developing a special relationship founded on cooperation, peace and security, mutual accountability and shared commitment to universal values of democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights in accordance with the Treaty on European Union.

Union funding may also be used for the purpose of enabling Russia to participate in Cross-Border Cooperation and in regional cooperation with Union participation and in relevant multi-country programmes, including in cooperation on education, in particular student exchanges.

The Union should promote the values of democracy through dialogue and cooperation with third countries. Accordingly, funding under this Regulation should comply with these values and principles, as well as with the Union’s commitments under international law, taking into account relevant Union policies and positions.

Specific objectives: a series of new specific objectives have been added to the programme including:

  • fight against discrimination in all its forms;
  • better organisation of legal migration and cross-border cooperation;
  • combating social exclusion;
  • promoting innovation;
  • enhancing regional cooperation and good neighbourly relations.

Differentiation, incentive measures, performance indicators: progress made in these fields should be evaluated by means of indicators defined in the draft regulation. It is also specified that Union support provided to each partner country should be incentive-based and differentiated in form and amounts, reflecting the partner country’s commitment to and progress in respect to certain criteria such as building deep and sustainable democracy, absorption capacity for aid, capacity to cooperate with the European Union and the level of ambition in regard to the reforms under way.

The incentive-based approach shall not apply to support to civil society, people-to-people contacts, including cooperation between local authorities, support for the improvement of human rights, or crisis-related support measures. In the event of serious or persistent regression, such support may be increased.

The incentive-based approach under the future Regulation will be the subject of regular exchanges of views in the Council and in the European Parliament.

Follow-up of progress made and reconsideration of support: partner countries' progress shall be regularly assessed, notably by means of European Neighbourhood Policy progress reports which include trends as compared to previous years. Support may be reconsidered in the event of serious or persistent regression.

General framework of assistance: assistance under this Regulation should be provided in accordance with the European Neighbourhood Instrument (notably the Eastern Partnership and the Union for the Mediterranean) and also relevant European Parliament resolutions.

Impact of civil society: the objectives of this Regulation should be pursued with an appropriate involvement of external action partners, including civil society organisations, in preparing, implementing and monitoring Union support. The ENI should also support the strengthening of the capacity of civil society organisations to guarantee effective domestic accountability and local ownership, and to be full actors in the democratisation processes.

Implementation: provisions have been included to clarify the technical implementation of the ENI II in terms of its strategic planning and programming both for national and cross-border and macro-regional programmes.

Financial allocation: in accordance with the agreement on the Financial Framework, the financial allocation for the implementation of this Regulation for the period from 2014 to 2020 is set at EUR 15 432 634 000. Up to 5% of this amount should be allocated to cross-border cooperation programmes.

Provision was made for an additional percentage of aid to encourage the incentive policy of the future regulation (in principle, an allocation of under 10% of the ENI budget for multi-country umbrella programmes to complement national financial allocations).

Part of the allocation would also be devoted to cross-border mobility.

Optimisation of resources: the Union should seek the most efficient use of available resources in order to optimise the impact of its external action. This should be achieved through coherence and complementarity between the Instruments for external action, as well as the creation of synergies between the ENI, other Instruments for external action and other policies of the Union. All programming documents should specify as far as possible the activities of other EU donors.

Delegated acts: in order to take account of changes in the enlargement policy framework or of significant developments in the beneficiary countries, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 on the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union should be delegated to the Commission in respect of adapting and updating the thematic priorities for assistance listed in Annex II of the future Regulation. Following the publication of the Mid-term report and based upon the recommendations contained in the mid-term review report, the Commission shall adopt a delegated act amending Annex II to this Regulation by 31 March 2018.

Annexes: the future Regulation should comprise 2 annexes:

  • Annex I lists the beneficiary countries of the ENI II: - Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya The Republic of Moldova, Morocco, occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), Syria, Tunisia, Ukraine.
  • Annex II defines the priorities for Union support under this regulation including support at cross-border and multi-country levels.

It is stipulated that the financial allocations by category of programmes would be as follows:

  • Bilateral programming: up to 80%;
  • Multi-country programmes: up to 35%;
  • Cross-border cooperation: up to 5%.

It should be noted that the amended draft Regulation is accompanied by a series of joint, bilateral or unilateral statements from the EU institutions including:

  • a European Parliament statement on the suspension of assistance granted under the financial instruments for foreign policy, particularly in cases where a beneficiary country fails to observe the basic principles enunciated in the respective instrument and notably the principles of democracy. (It is stated that the European Parliament considers that any suspension of assistance under these instruments would modify the overall financial scheme agreed under the ordinary legislative procedure. As a co-legislator, the European Parliament is therefore entitled to fully exercise its prerogatives in that regard, if such a decision is to be taken).
  • a Commission declaration on the use of implementing acts for the setting of the provisions for the implementation of certain rules in the European Neighbourhood Instrument and the IPA II;
  • a Commission declaration on the strategic dialogue with the European Parliament prior to its programming.