23. Assistance to the EU's new neighbours
| (24696)
11349/03
COM(03) 393
| Commission Communication: "Paving the way for a New Neighbourhood Instrument".
|
| Legal base | — |
| Document originated | 1 July 2003
|
| Deposited in Parliament | 3 July 2003
|
| Department | International Development
|
| Basis of consideration | EM of 25 July 2003
|
| Previous Committee Report | None
|
| To be discussed in Council | No date set
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
|
| Committee's decision | Cleared
|
Background
23.1 The 16 June General Affairs and External Relations Council
invited the Commission to present a Communication on the concept
of a New Neighbourhood Instrument, a single instrument for assistance
to the states that will be neighbours of the EU following enlargement.
The Commission Communication
23.2 The Communication sets out how the Commission proposes to
manage cross-border assistance and how to improve interoperability
between existing instruments. The countries affected will be the
accession states and neighbours to the East (Romania, Bulgaria,
Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus), in the Southern Mediterranean
(Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Israel/Palestine, Lebanon,
Syria and Jordan) and in the Balkans (Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia
and Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina).
23.3 The objectives of cross-border assistance should
be:
- to promote sustainable economic
and social development and poverty reduction in the border areas;
- to address common challenges, such as environmental
problems, public health issues and the prevention of, and the
fight against, organised crime;
- to ensure effective and secure borders; and
- to promote local "people to people"
actions that increase cultural and institutional contacts across
borders.
23.4 Problems have arisen from lack of coordination
between the existing programmes through which assistance is delivered
to these areas. This is in part due to the legal and budgetary
constraints that determine levels of spending inside and outside
the EU's borders. The Commission says that these constraints
cannot be resolved immediately, and so there is a need to adopt
a two-stage approach to the problem. It proposes that this should
be as follows:
- From 2004 to 2006: Transitional
Phase — improving co-ordination between existing instruments[31]
through the introduction of "Neighbourhood Programmes".
These will cover 25 different external border regions. Neighbourhood
Programmes will enable cross-border projects to be selected jointly
by countries on both sides of the border but will not change the
current legal and budgetary constraints on spending.
- From 2007: The New Neighbourhood Instrument.
Adopting a new single legal instrument for assistance on external
borders would enable funds to be spent on both sides of the border.
This would work towards the objectives set out above and provide
a more complete response to the problems of co-ordination. The
Commission says that it will develop this concept further in the
coming months. In doing so it will take into account evaluations
of existing cross-border programmes and consider how to solve
legal and budgetary constraints on the integration of internal
and external funding.
23.5 There is a need for immediate amendments to
existing programming documents for 2004-6 for the TACIS, INTERREG,
PHARE, MEDA and CARDS programmes. These amendments will reflect
the reallocation of money set aside for cross-border and regional
co-operation towards the new "Neighbourhood Programmes".
23.6 An annex to the Communication sets out the 25
indicative programming regions for the Neighbourhood Programmes
(2004-6). These are based on the areas covered by INTERREG programmes
for current and future Member States and on future PHARE Cross-Border
Co-operation programmes on the external borders of the enlarged
Union.
The Government's view
23.7 The Secretary of State for International Development
(Baroness Amos) comments:
"The Government welcomes the attempt by the
Commission to improve the effectiveness of cross-border assistance
to the EU's external borders.
"By encompassing such a broad geographical area,
the Communication takes a comprehensive approach to solving the
co-ordination problems experienced in the past. In developing
further the concept of a New Neighbourhood Instrument, the Government
will seek to ensure that the Commission maintains a differentiated
approach to the different problems faced by each region and their
different relationship with the EU.
"The Government will continue to seek to maximise
the impact on poverty reduction of cross-border assistance to
the EU's external borders. It will seek to ensure that resources
allocated within existing regulations, and in a New Neighbourhood
Instrument post-2006, will not be at the expense of low-income
countries. It will also try to ensure that the Commission uses
the right mix of instruments and policy levers — including
a greater role for loan assistance rather than using only grant
transfers.
23.8 The Minister says that the Commission is not
requesting any new money but proposes the following re-allocation
from the existing regulations to fund the Neighbourhood Programmes:
£481 million from INTERREG, £62 million from PHARE,
£52 million from TACIS, £31 million from CARDS and £31
million from MEDA — a total of £656 million.
Conclusion
23.9 On 2 April 2003 we cleared a Commission Communication
entitled Wider Europe - Neighbourhood: A New Framework for
Relations with our Eastern and Southern Neighbours, known
as The Wider Europe Communication. [32]
We strongly support the Council's policy of developing "a
zone of prosperity and a friendly neighbourhood" with which
the EU can enjoy close, peaceful and cooperative relations, and
welcome the Commission's determination to move ahead quickly with
the practical measures it proposes here.
23.10 We now clear this document.
31 TACIS, PHARE, INTERREG, MEDA, CARDS. Back
32
(24358) 7413/03; see HC 63-xvii (2002-03), paragraph 7 (2 April
2003). Back
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