Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA)

PURPOSE: to amend Council Regulation (EC) No 1085/2006 establishing an Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) in order to transfer Iceland and Montenegro from the list of potential candidate countries to the list of candidate countries.

LEGISLATIVE ACT: Regulation (EU) No 153/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulation (EC) No 1085/2006 establishing an Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA)

BACKGROUND: Iceland is a candidate country for EU membership since the European Council of 17 June 2010 noted that Iceland meets the political criteria set by the Copenhagen European Council in 1993 and decided to open negotiations with Iceland. Similarly, the European Council of 16-17 December 2010 endorsed the Council's conclusions of 14 December 2010 on enlargement and agreed to give Montenegro the status of candidate country.

Accordingly, it is necessary to amend Regulation (EC) No 1085/2006 in order to take into account the new status of these countries.

CONTENT: this Regulation provides that:

·        Iceland and Montenegro are transferred from the list of potential candidate countries (Annex II) to the list of candidate countries (Annex I), in accordance with the decisions of the European Council;

·        an amendment is made to Article 19 "Rules of participation and origin, eligibility for grants" of the IPA Regulation in order to align its provisions with those of Article 21 "Participation in tenders and contracts" of the ENPI Regulation (EC) No 1638/2006. This amendment inserts a new paragraph, which, considering the local nature of the CBC programmes, would allow participation in calls for proposals to be limited to local actors.

·        an amendment is made to the IPA Regulation with the aim of allowing the Phare committee to continue to assist the Commission in the management of the financial assistance to the Turkish Cypriot community, as provided for in Regulation (EC) No 389/2006 on assistance to the Turkish Cypriot community.

ENTRY INTO FORCE: 1 March 2012.