PURPOSE: to include Romania and Bulgaria in the Protocol to the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and Azerbaijan.
LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision 2009/816/EC, Euratom of the Council and the Commission on the conclusion of the Protocol to the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Azerbaijan, of the other part, to take account of the accession of the Republic of Bulgaria and Romania to the European Union.
CONTENT: the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Azerbaijan (see AVC/1996/0094), of the other part, is a “mixed” agreement, which entered into force on 1 July 1999, i.e. before the enlargement of the Union to include the Republic of Bulgaria and Romania.
The purpose of this agreement is therefore to conclude a protocol to the PCA to allow these new Member States to accede to the Agreement, in accordance with the Treaty of Accession of 25 April 2005 and to conclude the protocol in the name of the European Community and the European Atomic Energy Community, as well as the Member States.
It should be noted that the protocol was signed in the name of the European Community and its Member States on 9 December 2008 in accordance with Council Decision 2009/173/EC. Pending its entry into force, the Protocol has been applied on a provisional basis as from 1 January 2007.