The European Parliament adopted by 621 votes to 34 with 23 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a Partnership Instrument for cooperation with third countries (PI II).
Parliament adopted its position in first reading following the ordinary legislative procedure. The amendments adopted in plenary are the result of a compromise between Parliament and Council.
General objective: the objective of the PI II is to promote and defend the interests of the EU as well as those shared with other countries. The Partnership Instrument is intended to support measures that respond effectively and flexibly to objectives arising from bilateral, regional and multilateral relations with the EU and with third countries, addressing global challenges or which will allow an adequate follow-up to decisions taken at multilateral level.
Specific objectives and scope: a series of new specific objectives have been added to the Programme such as:
· fighting climate change;
· supporting the implementation of the external dimension of ‘Europe 2020;
· improving access to third country markets;
· strengthening contacts between parties.
The scope has been clarified to state that it is in the Union's interest to deepen its relations and dialogue with countries where the Union has a strategic interest in promoting links, especially developed and developing countries which play an increasingly important role in world affairs, including in global governance, foreign policy, international economy, multilateral fora.
Partner countries: the scope of this Regulation should be worldwide.
The Commission may take into account the geographic proximity of the Union's outermost regions and overseas countries and territories in its cooperation with third countries.
Visibility of EU aid: in order to ensure the visibility of the Union's assistance towards the citizens of the beneficiary countries and those of the Union, there should be, where appropriate, targeted communication and information by adequate means.
Performance indicators: progress in these areas would be assessed through performance indicators defined in the draft Regulation
General framework of assistance: the support should be granted in accordance with the general framework defined by the external policy of the EU and the relevant texts of the European Parliament in this area. Assistance should also be guided by the values founding the EU, respect for democracy and human rights and should be differentiated according to the needs of each beneficiary. To this end, a series of thematic objectives were defined in the Annex to future regulation. Multi-annual indicative programmes have also been established with specific priorities under which the geographical proximity of the EU with third countries, regions and territories should be taken into account.
Impact of civil society: the objectives of this Regulation should be pursued with an appropriate involvement of civil society organisations.
Implementation: provisions have been included to clarify the technical implementation of the PI II in terms of its strategic planning and programming.
Financial envelope: in accordance with the agreement on the Financial Framework, the financial envelope for the implementation of the PI II Regulation is set at EUR 954 765 000.
There are specific provisions setting out the percentage of funds in multi-annual indicative programmes and the adoption of the programmes. Actions within the scope of ‘Erasmus +’ will only be funded by the Partnership Instrument in so far as they are not eligible for funding under other external action instruments, and complement or reinforce other initiatives under the Regulation.
Optimisation of resources: the Union should seek the most efficient use of available resources in order to optimise the impact of its external action. This should be achieved through coherence and complementarity between Instruments for external action, as well as the creation of synergies between the present Instrument, other Instruments for external action and other policies of the Union.
Delegated acts: the Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 290 TFEU to amend the thematic priorities laid down inthe Annex to the Regulation. Based upon the recommendations contained in the mid-term review report for IP II, the Commission shall adopt a delegated act amending the Annex by 31 March 2018.
Annexes: the future regulation contains an annex, which defines the thematic priorities for assistance. It should be noted that the draft Regulation as amended is accompanied by a series of unilateral declarations including: