Decentralised development cooperation: extension until 31 December 2003

OBJECTIVE: to extend Regulation No 1659/98/EC on decentralised cooperation for a further two years. COMMUNITY MEASURE: Regulation No 955/2002/EC by the European Parliament and the Council, extending and amending Council Regulation No 1659/98/EC on decentralised cooperation. CONTENT: The purpose of this regulation is to extend Council Regulation No 1659/98/EC on decentralised cooperation to 31 December 2003 and to adapt the total appropriation accordingly, the initial programme being applicable until 31 December 2001. This extension is designed to allow the Commission time to propose a new programme moving the decentralised cooperation on from an experimental phase to official cooperation and to carry out all the assessments of the activities financed by the Community under this heading. The financial reference amount for Regulation No 1659/98/EC is increased from EUR 18 million to EUR 24 million for the extended period 1999 to 2003. The amended regulation contains a series of new provisions relating to comitology, with a view to complying with the new rules in force in that area (Council Decision No 1999/468/EC) and details of the beneficiaries of decentralised cooperation (including local authorities, NGOs, cultural and research organisations and churches). The amended regulation also provides for the Commission to review its strategic guidelines and decentralised cooperation priorities every two years and to inform the European Parliament accordingly. In the annual report that the Commission is required to submit to Parliament and the Council, the Commission will, in addition, have to present a summary of the operations financed under the regulation and details of the decentralised cooperation actors with whom contracts have been concluded. An overall assessment is also expected eight months before the expiry of the present regulation, accompanied by suggestions for further decentralised cooperation and the involvement of civil society. The aid must be consistent with and complementary to the aid provided under other Community development cooperation instruments. ENTRY INTO FORCE: 9 June 2002. It should be noted that this regulation has been adopted after a single reading by the European Parliament, in accordance with Article 251 of the TEU, the Council having incorporated all the amendments by the EP at first reading. �