19 The EU Special Representative
(EUSR) for the Horn of Africa
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| Council Decision amending Decision 2012/329/CFSP extending the mandate of the European Union Special Representative for the Horn of Africa
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| Legal base | Articles 28, 31 ( 2 ) and 33 TEU; QMV
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| Department | Foreign and Commonwealth Office
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| Basis of consideration | Minister's letter of 26 June 2013
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| Previous Committee Reports | HC 83-vii (2013-14), chapter 4 (26 June 2013); also see (33961) —: HC 86-iv (2012-13), chapter 24 (14 June 2012) and HC 86-vii (2012-13), chapter 12 (4 July 2012); (33367) —: HC 428-xliii (2010-12), chapter 21 (7 December 2011) and (33288) —: HC 428-xl (2010-12), chapter 11 (2 November 2011)
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| Discussion in Council | Before 31 June 2013
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared
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Background
19.1 For these purposes, the Horn of Africa is defined as
the countries belonging to the Inter-Governmental Authority on
Development (IGAD)[53]
— Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, South
Sudan and Uganda.
19.2 Our previous Reports provide full background
on the rationale for the creation of this EUSR role, and of the
creditable performance of the incumbent, Mr Alexander Rondos (a
Greek diplomat with extensive experience in the Greek Prime Minister's
office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and international organisations,
including the World Bank, with experience in African matters and
who had worked in East Africa during his career).
19.3 A year ago, we cleared a straightforward
extension of his mandate. But we did so reluctantly. Once again,
we were presented with only a partial picture, since we were provided
with no financial information. As we had said with other EUSR
mandate renewals that were similarly deficient, this suggested
both a certain lack of "quality assurance" in the Foreign
and Commonwealth Office, and an attitude on the part of the European
External Action Service (EEAS) that was reminiscent of its predecessors
in the Council secretariat — that even when matters were
straightforward, they could be left until the last moment because
Parliamentary scrutiny did not need to be factored into the relevant
timeline. This was, we said, unsatisfactory, and should not continue.
19.4 We therefore again asked the Minister (Mr
David Lidington) to inform us, when he furnished the relevant
financial information on this and the other relevant EUSR mandates,
about what he was doing to ensure that, in future, the EEAS provided
draft EUSR Council Decisions and the relevant financial information
in good time so that they could be properly scrutinised and, if
any questions do arise, they could be answered without unnecessary
pressure of time.[54]
19.5 These matters are discussed further in the
Conclusion to the relevant chapter in our previous Report. In
essence, they concern:
—
the seemingly fruitless attempts by the Minister for Europe (Mr
David Lidington) to persuade the High Representative (Baroness
Catherine Ashton) and the EEAS that she leads of the importance
of the timely submission of Council Decisions such as these: so
much so that we regard it as tantamount to regarding the scrutiny
process, and therefore the House, with disrespect; and
— the unexplained failure to carry out
a review of the EUSRs as a whole, which should have been produced
by mid-2013.
19.6 We await a copy of the Minister's promised
further letter to the HR; the answer to the detailed questions
about "process" in our previous Report; and details
of what else he proposes to do — other than writing this
further letter — to bring it home to the EEAS and its leader
that this sort of conduct will simply not suffice in future.
19.7 We will also question the Minister further
about parliamentary scrutiny of EUSR mandates when he comes to
give evidence on Thursday 4 July.
The draft Council Decision
19.8 The draft Council Decision extends the EUSR
mandate, which expires on 30 June 2013, for four months, to 31
October 2013.[55]
19.9 The Minister professed himself fully supportive
of the EUSR. Since the EUSR's mandate was last considered in June
2012, the EUSR has led the EU response to several significant
changes in the Horn of Africa, including, but not exclusively:
the end of the political transition in Somalia with a new, more
effective Government; the change in political leadership in Ethiopia
following the death of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi on 20 August
2012; and the election of Uhuru Kenyatta as President of Kenya.
19.10 He said that this position continues to
be politically important to the UK: Somalia is a high priority
for the UK, and the EUSR helps achieve UK objectives for the Horn
of Africa region through a mandate that reflects UK policy goals.
19.11 The Minister then turned to the budget
thus:
"The EUSR's budget from 25 June 2012 to 30 June
2013 was €4.9 million. Of this, €2.7 million was earmarked
to pay for the establishment of an EU presence in Mogadishu International
Airport. However, the EUSR set up a lease agreement with the
UN for office space and accommodation which has led to substantial
savings. The High Representative has proposed a four month extension
of the EUSR's mandate, to be funded by the underspend, up to 31
October 2013. The European External Action Service (EEAS) has
confirmed that spending will continue along existing lines and
that the cost of the four-month extension will cost less than
the underspend. We continue to push for additional budgetary
information so that the Scrutiny Committees have all the necessary
information upon which they can make a decision. We are the only
Member State pushing for this information which demonstrates the
UK's strong commitment to good financial management and our close
scrutiny of EU spend. The EEAS have promised to provide further
details next week which we will pass on to the Scrutiny Committees
as soon as we receive it.
19.12 Looking ahead, the Minister says:
"There will be a discussion and review of the
EUSR's mandate and budget in October which will take into account:
recent developments in the region; the outcomes of the EU-Somalia
Conference on Somalia in Brussels on 16 September, where a New
Deal Compact between Somalia and the international community will
be agreed; and the new responsibilities for Sudan and South Sudan
as the mandate for the EUSR for Sudan and South Sudan expires.
"The UK supports the no-cost extension of this
mandate by four months. We will carefully examine the detail
of the renewal in October, particularly in terms of the budget,
but also in relation to objectives after the EU Conference on
Somalia, and the new responsibilities for Sudan and South Sudan.
"
Our assessment
19.13 We commended the Minister and his officials
once again for ploughing the seemingly lonely furrow of insisting
on budgetary discipline and transparency, and looked forward to
receiving the further financial information that he was rightly
seeking.
19.14 Our concerns about the apparently fruitless
endeavours to ensure that such Council Decisions are submitted
in good time and in sufficient detail for effective scrutiny are
detailed above (c.f. paragraph 19.5-19.7).
19.15 In light of those criticisms, and in the
absence of the promised further budgetary information, we were
not content to clear the Decision from scrutiny.[56]
The Minister's letter of 26 June 2013
19.16 The Minister says that he and his officials
have "scrutinised the budget very closely", and "have
argued throughout negotiations of this EUSR extension for cost
effectiveness and, where appropriate, cost reductions".
19.17 He then provides the following information:
"In June 2012, a Council Decision set a budget
of €4,900,000 for twelve months for the EUSR to carry out
his mandate. Precise final figures are not yet available for
the total expenditure in the past twelve months since the mandate
does not expire until 30 June and it will take some time for accounts
to be settled. We do know that there is an estimated underspend
of €726,201.
"Savings have been found in the budget, largely
because the original budget allocated included €2,715,030
to pay for the establishment of an EU presence in Mogadishu International
Airport. However, the EUSR set up a lease agreement with the
UN for office space and accommodation, which led to substantial
savings of €683,957. More detail is set out below and the
full budget is in the attached annex. Other savings totalling
€42,244 were found in personnel and accommodation costs.
"The Council Decision to extend the mandate
for the EUSR by four months will cost €683,957. It will
be funded entirely from last year's underspend of the budget.
Any funds committed and not used over the next four months will
be recovered at the end of the mission's mandate period.
"The UK has reserved final approval of the Decision
until the UK Parliamentary Scrutiny Committees have considered
the proposal and — we hope — cleared the Decision.
My officials and I stand ready to provide any further information
required to assist your Committees in their consideration of this
item.
"Detail of proposed budget for four months,
less contingency (July-October 2013 inclusive):
"Personnel expenditure: — €298,299:
this is in line with last year's budget. The budget covers the
salaries and daily allowances of the EUSR and ten staff.
"Missions — €159,580: this
covers travel, accommodation and daily expenses. There is a 21%
higher rate of spend anticipated for these four months than in
last year's budget. The European External Action Service (EEAS)
have confirmed two reasons for the higher rate: the experience
of last year has shown that the team spend much more time travelling
than first envisaged; and flight and accommodation costs were
previously underestimated.
"Running expenditure — €177,800:
a 12% lower rate of spend compared to last year's budget. This
covers costs for office support, including equipment and supplies,
IT services and office rent. The decrease is largely because
no security costs have needed to be factored in, since the EUSR's
office has been co-located with the UN and benefits from their
security arrangements. The EUSR's lease agreement costs are reflected
in this section; rent of office space and accommodation total
€59,500 for four months.
"Capital expenditure — €44,677:
this will pay for an armoured vehicle and additional communications
equipment.
"Representation — €3,600:
this is in line with last year's budget. This covers costs related
to catering and entertainment for functions with host governments.
"Contingencies — €151,288:
a contingency of 3.19% was been written into the budget. The
contingency was not used and will roll over into the next mandate.
This is in line with other EUSRs; the contingency reserve can
only be used with prior written approval by the EU Commission.
We do not judge that this contingency will be used, but will
ensure that Member States are consulted before the EU Commission
provides written approval."
Conclusion
19.18 We also dealt in our previous Report
with the proposal for a similar short mandate extension for the
EUSR to Sudan and South Sudan (c.f. paragraph 19.12 above): the
HR's proposal being to merge the two mandates. We took the view
that it was not immediately apparent what was going to change
between now and October that would make it sensible then when
the Minister did not agree with the HR that it was sensible now,
given the limited progress over the past 12 months in Sudan and
South Sudan (to which the Minister referred) and that the follow-up
to the EU Somalia conference in September was presumably not going
to lessen the EUSR to the Horn of Africa's workload. We therefore
continued also to hold that draft Council Decision under scrutiny,
pending receipt of missing budgetary information there too, and
the Minister's comments. We also noted that we would expect the
Minister to deal with these matters fully as and when he submits
his Explanatory Memorandum on any Council Decision to merge the
two mandates.[57]
19.19 In the meantime, having received the
relevant information on this draft mandate, we now clear the Council
Decision.
53 The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD)
in Eastern Africa was created in 1996 to supersede the Intergovernmental
Authority on Drought and Development (IGADD) which was founded
in 1986. The IGAD mission is to assist and complement the efforts
of the Member States to achieve, through increased cooperation:
Food Security and environmental protection; promotion and maintenance
of peace and security and humanitarian affairs; and economic cooperation
and integration. For full information on IGAD, see http://www.africa-union.org/root/au/recs/igad.htm. Back
54
See (33961) -: HC 86-iv (2012-13), chapter 24 (14 June 2012). Back
55
See Annex 1 to this chapter of our Report for full information. Back
56
See headnote: HC 83-vii (2013-14), chapter 4 (26 June 2013). Back
57
See (35054) -: HC 83-vii (2012-13), chapter 7 (26 June 2013). Back
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