PURPOSE: to conclude on behalf of the European Union and its Member States, of a Protocol to the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement establishing an Association between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and Lebanon, of the other part, to take account of the accession of Croatia to the European Union.
PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.
ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the Council may adopt the act only if Parliament has given its consent to the act.
BACKGROUND: the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement establishing an Association between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and Lebanon, of the other part, was signed in Brussels on 1 April 2002 and entered into force on 1 April 2006.
Croatia became a Member State of the European Union on 1 July 2013.
The Act of Accession of Croatia provides that Croatia shall accede to the international agreements signed or concluded by the European Union and its Member States by means of a protocol to those agreements.
On 14 September 20121, the Council authorised the Commission to open negotiations with the third countries concerned with a view to concluding the relevant protocols.
The negotiations with Lebanon being successfully concluded, the Commission calls on the Council to adopt the decisions on the conclusion of the Protocol.
CONTENT: the draft Council decision constitutes the legal instrument for conclusion of a Protocol to the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement establishing an Association between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and Lebanon, of the other part to take account of the accession of Croatia to the European Union.
The text of the Protocol is attached to the draft decision.