11 Common Foreign and Security Policy
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| Annual report from the Council to the European Parliament on the main aspects and basic choices of the CFSP
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| Legal base | — |
| Department | Foreign and Commonwealth Office
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| Basis of consideration | Minister's letter of 5 June 2007
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| Previous Committee Report | HC 41-xxii (2006-07), para 17 (16 May 2007)
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| To be discussed in Council | 21 May 2007 Competitiveness Council
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared
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Background
11.1 Under Article 21 EU, the European Parliament is to be consulted
on the main aspects and basic choices of the EU's Common Foreign
and Security Policy and kept regularly informed by the Presidency
and the Commission of the development of this policy.
The 2006 Annual Report
11.2 This report covers the year 2006 and also looks at perspectives
for future action. The chapters into which the 119 page report
is divided are:
— CFSP
and ESDP: instruments and institutional aspects
— Financing
of CFSP/ESDP
— Counter
Terrorism
— Non-proliferation/disarmament/arms
trade
— Early
warning and conflict prevention
— Western
Balkans
— Eastern
Europe and Central Asia
— Mediterranean
region and Turkey
— Middle
East/Gulf
— Africa
— Transatlantic
relations
— Asia-Oceania
— Latin
America and Caribbean
A six-page annex lists all the CFSP legislative acts
carried out in 2006.
11.3 The report was fully summarised and analysed
by the Minister for Europe at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
(Mr Geoffrey Hoon) in his Explanatory Memorandum of 3 May 2007,
and considered by us on 16 May. While appreciative of his helpful
Explanatory Memorandum, and particularly his renewed commitment
to keep us informed of developments as issues are discussed in
working groups, ahead of the depositing of the draft legislation,
we asked why this annual report had not been deposited for scrutiny
since 2002.
11.4 He also referred in the title of his Explanatory
Memorandum to "(point G, paragraph 43 of the Interinstitutional
Agreement of 17 May 2006)". Point G, paragraphs 42 and 43
of the IIA deal with the financing of Common Foreign and Security
Policy.[24] However,
as paragraph 43 covers several aspects of the process whereby
the European Parliament shall be consulted on CFSP, we were not
clear precisely to what the Minister was referring, and asked
him for clarification.
11.5 More generally, we asked him to explain what
changes had been introduced in paragraphs 42 and 43 by comparison
with the IIA of 1999, and their significance in terms of the involvement
of the European Parliament in the scrutiny of CFSP, particularly
as to its focus and its financing.
11.6 Finally, we recalled that, a year and
a half ago, the then Minister for Europe, in commenting on the
ESDP Report at the end of the UK Presidency, said that the key
challenge was no longer institution building, but ensuring an
effective EU response and making ESDP more active, more capable
and more coherent, including through better co-operation and coordination
with other international organisations and non-EU states; and
noted that the proposals listed in the Annex illustrated a CFSP
that was very much in line with this approach.
11.7 We also recalled, however, that at the informal
Hampton Court meeting of EU Heads of State and Government in October
2005 the Secretary General/High Representative had noted that
most of the increase in the CFSP budget was already earmarked,
and that additional funding was likely to be required —
without including a possible operation in Kosovo — and that
there was general agreement at the meeting on the need for a substantial
increase in funds to cover the common costs of EU crisis management
operations and other CFSP measures, with the figure of €300
million per annum suggested by one head of government having received
widespread support — a figure which he said was, given the
Union's ambitions and capacities, not unreasonable.[25]
11.8 Looking ahead, we asked that future Explanatory
Memoranda on Presidency ESDP Reports should include an explanation
and assessment of the financial context of both current and prospective
activity, and asked that the same should apply with future CFSP
annual reports. For now, it seemed to us that, with a large part
allocated to the planned EU mission in Kosovo, a 2007 budget of
€159.2 million was a long way short of the estimates under
discussion 18 months ago, which suggested that the Union's ambitions
continued to run ahead of its willingness adequately to finance
them. We asked for the Minister's comments when he responded to
the points raised above.
11.9 We cleared the document ahead of its adoption
at the 21 May Competitiveness Council.[26]
The Minister's letter
11.10 The Minister for Europe responded in his letter
of 5 June as follows:
"I would like to apologise for the fact that
Annual Reports have not been deposited since 2003 due to oversight.
It appears that officials at the time mistakenly judged that the
report was not subject to scrutiny. I am glad that my officials
were able to resolve this confusion with your clerks and that
you found the Explanatory Memorandum helpful.
"You asked for an explanation of the reference
in the title of the Explanatory Memorandum to point G, paragraph
43 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 17 May 2006. Point G,
paragraph 43 is cited because it is in the complete title of the
Annual Report.
"Paragraph 43 of the 2006 Agreement differs
from the corresponding paragraph in the 1999 Interinstitutional
Agreement in three areas:
- it places a new obligation
on the Council to transmit the Annual Report to the European Parliament
by 15 June each year;
- it specifies that the CFSP
Annual Report should include an evaluation of measures launched
in the year covered by the report;
- the Council Presidency is now
required to keep the European Parliament informed by holding joint
consultation meetings at least five times a year.
"You also asked for Explanatory Memorandums
covering future CFSP Annual Reports to include an explanation
and assessment of the financial context of both current and prospective
activity. I agree that would provide a useful opportunity for
me to update Parliament on the financing of activity in this area
and we will do so in forthcoming years.
"With regard to the 2007 CFSP budget, the Commission
currently calculates that €159.2 million should be sufficient
but the start date for the Kosovo mission is the key variable.
If necessary the Council can revert to the European Parliament.
For 2008, the Commission's initial budget proposal is €200
million".
Conclusion
11.11 Given the disparity between what seemed,
at the Hampton Court meeting, to be a generally agreed figure
of what was required and what is apparently earmarked for CFSP/ESDP
activity, analysis of the financial component in future years
will be of particular interest.
11.12 In the meantime, we are grateful for this
further information, which we are reporting to the House because
of the level of interest in the subject matter.
24 See http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/oj/2006/c_139/c_13920060614en00010017.pdf
for the full Interinstitutional Agreement Back
25
http://ue.eu.int/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/EN/reports/87644.pdf Back
26
See headnote. Back
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