Action against anti-personnel landmines in developing countries

Although the Council largely followed the approach and objectives of the Commission proposal and supported several amendments proposed by the Parliament, it considered it necessary to make a number of changes to both the substance and the wording of some articles in the proposed regulation. With regard to the geographical scope, the aim and contents of the proposal, the Council considers the legal basis put forward by the Commission, namely Article 179 TEC, as appropriate. The amendments made by the Council to the Commission proposal relates to: - the scope of the activities proposed by the Commission; - the overall financial envelope: it is set at EUR 240 million; - the joint statement by the Council and the Commission on the "European development Policy"; - the duration: the Council agreed to limit the duration of the Regulation until 31/12/2009 which corresponds to the duration of the Ottawa Convention. On the other hand, the amendments made by the Parliament and not adopted by the Council relate to: - comitology (the Council prefers a management procedure instead of advisory); - the request to expand activities to States not Parties to the Ottawa Convention in exceptional cases; - to limit mine ationd to be fonaced under only one single budget line with the exception of Research and ECHO does not allow for sufficient flexibility); - to establish a Central Mine Action Unit within the Commission; - rejection of deletion of provision on participation in invitations to tender, which is standard formula. Lastly, the Council considers that its common position constitutes a balanced text. The activities to be financed under this Regualtion will be limited to development countires to take account of the objectives of the Community's development cooperation. It allows for addressing the APL problem through a comprehensive Community approach and for facilitating a multi-annual mine action coordination and programming through an APL Strategy Paper comprising horizontal guidelines and priorities.�