PURPOSE: to conclude, on behalf of the European Union and its Member States, the Protocol to the Framework Agreement on Partnership and Cooperation between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and Mongolia, of the other part, to take account of the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union.
PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.
ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: Council may adopt the act only if Parliament has given its consent to the act.
BACKGROUND: the Act of Accession of the Republic of Croatia to the EU specifies that Croatia will accede to the international agreements signed or concluded by the European Union and its Member States by means of protocols to these agreements.
The Framework Agreement on Partnership and Cooperation between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and Mongolia, of the other part, was signed in Ulaan Baatar on 30 April 2013. This Agreement is currently being ratified and has not yet entered in force.
On 14 September 2012, the Council authorised the Commission to open negotiations with the third countries with which protocols would need to be concluded as a result of the accession of the Republic of Croatia.
The negotiations were successful and the Protocol to the Framework Agreement on Partnership and Cooperation between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and Mongolia, of the other part, to take account of the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union was signed on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.
It is now necessary to approve the Protocol on behalf of the Union and its Member States.
CONTENT: the proposed Council Decision provides the legal basis for concluding a Protocol to the Framework Agreement on Partnership and Cooperation between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and Mongolia, of the other part.
The purpose of this Protocol is to take account of the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union.
The Protocol makes Croatia a contracting party to this Agreement.
The Commission asks the Council to conclude the Protocol to the Agreement on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.