DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE TO MEDITERRANEAN
NEIGHBOURS (MEDA)
(20973)
5104/00
COM(99) 494
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Draft Council Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No. 1488/96 on
financial and technical matters to accompany the reform of economic
and social structures in the framework of the Euro-Mediterranean
partnership (MEDA).
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| Legal base:
| Article 308 EC; unanimity
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| Department: |
International Development |
| Basis of consideration:
| Supplementary EM of 8 November 2000
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| Previous Committee Report:
| HC 23-xxviii (1999-2000), paragraph 6 (1 November 2000)
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| To be discussed in Council:
| 15 November 2000 |
| Committee's assessment:
| Politically important |
| Committee's decision:
| Cleared |
Background
28.1 The MEDA Programme is the main financial
instrument of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. It provides
development assistance to those 12 neighbouring countries in the
Mediterranean which agreed to form the Partnership, enshrined
in the 1995 Barcelona Declaration[94].
The Commission proposal
28.2 The draft Regulation establishes MEDA
II, to run from 2000. We did not clear it when we considered it
on 1 November, but expressed concern about the effect of the multiannual
budget on the Community's overall budget for external aid (Category
4). We therefore asked the Government to tell us what commitment
the Council made to cuts in other aspects of this part of the
budget, so that the ceiling would not be breached.
28.3 We also noted that the Government had
still to provide us with a view on how the Justice and Home Affairs
measures were to be included.
The Supplementary EM
28.4 In a Supplementary Explanatory Memorandum
dated 8 November, the Secretary of State for International Development
(The Rt. Hon. Clare Short) recalls that, after exhaustive negotiations
on this proposal, agreement was reached at the 9 October General
Affairs Council (GAC) on the content, except for the financial
reference amount. She notes the key changes to the text, a copy
of which she provides. We recorded these in general terms in our
report of 1 November, but the Minister gives us some detail. The
changes she notes include:
"Objectives:
there is now a specific commitment to address the poor: 'The Community
shall implement measures ... to support the efforts that Mediterranean
partners ... will implement to reform their economic and social
structures, improve conditions for the underprivileged,
and mitigate any social or environmental consequences which may
result from economic development.' (Article 1);
"Co-ordination: a stronger commitment
to co-ordination both with Member States and with other donors,
including the International Financial Institutions and the UN
(Article 4.1);
"Strategic approach: Country and Regional
strategy papers will now be adopted by the Commission and approved
by the Management Committee (Article 9); and the Commission is
committed (in an accompanying declaration) to detailed examination
and adoption of individual projects which are particularly sensitive;
"Resource allocation: The Commission
is required for the first time to explain its reasoning in allocating
resources between countries and programmes (Article 9.1);
"Review and Evaluation: there will now
be annual reviews of the Country and Regional Strategies, as well
as regular evaluations of strategies and individual projects (Article
15);
"Poverty focus: the relevant part of
Annex 2 is now much more clearly poverty focused: 'Support for
sustainable economic and social development shall include in particular
— the promotion of wide and equitable sharing of the fruits
of growth, paying particular attention to the objectives and targets
agreed at UN summits for fighting poverty and incorporated in
the international development targets'."
28.5 The Minister comments that:
"These changes have
improved the text and the outcome is reasonable given the strong
resistance to our proposals from the Presidency, the Commission
and some Member States."
— Justice and Home Affairs Measures
28.6 The Minister says that the relevant
parts of Annex 2 provide that support for sustainable economic
and social development shall include:
"co-operation and technical
assistance in order to strengthen co-operation in the area of
migrations and the context against illegal migration, including
repatriation of illegal residents."
28.7 She adds that the Government is discussing
the possible implementation of this provision with the Commission
and other Member States. There are no specific plans in this area
at present and it remains the Government's view that the sustainable
development of the MEDA developing countries must be the primary
purpose of EC development assistance.
— The financial reference amount
28.8 The Minister says:
"The Council has been
unable to agree a financial reference amount so far. The UK and
four other Member States have argued for a maximum of 5 billion
euros. Other Member States and the Commission have pressed for
up to 7.6 billion euros. The Presidency have proposed a compromise
of 5.6 billion euros, which will be discussed at a Special General
Affairs Council on 15 November on the eve of the Marseilles Euro-Med
Ministerial meeting."
The Minister comments that the French Presidency
is making a major effort to conclude the negotiations by 16 November.
Conclusion
28.9 The Minister has given us a clear
account of the state of the negotiations on the financial reference
amount, as of 8 November. The compromise figure proposed by the
Presidency is substantially lower than that proposed by some Member
States and the Commission. We support the Government's position
and ask the Minister to let us know the outcome after the Marseilles
Euro-Med Ministerial.
28.10 We now clear the document.
94 Under MEDA National Indicative Programmes, bilateral
financial partnership is restricted to Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia,
Egypt, West Bank/Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey;
whereas Israel, Cyprus and Malta benefit from financial allocations
under the MEDA Regional Indicative Programme. Back
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