The European Parliament adopted by 590 votes to 22, with 20 abstentions, at third reading of the ordinary legislative procedure, a legislative resolution on the joint text approved by the Conciliation Committee for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 1905/2006 establishing a financing instrument for development cooperation.
Parliament decided to accept the compromise package, in a spirit of compromise, as the remaining duration of the current instruments is rather short. It regrets that due to Council's rigidity it was not possible to further improve the text of the DCI/BAM instrument, in particular in relation to Parliament's role in strategic decisions, where an equal footing between the co-legislators is essential.
Parliament underlines that this result does not set a precedent for the future negotiations on the post-2013 external financing instruments. It declares that, in accordance with the criteria defined in Article 290(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, it will insist on the use of delegated acts wherever strategic political decisions are involved on financing and programming with regard to those instruments.
It should be noted that the resolution is accompanied by a statement by the European Parliament and the Council which was confirmed by the Parliament in plenary:
Statement by the European Parliament and the Council on the use of Delegated Acts in the future Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2014-2020: the two institutions take note of the Commission Communication “A Budget for Europe 2020” , in particular in relation to the proposed use of delegated acts in the future external financing instruments and await legislative proposals, which will be duly considered. The document states that the future legal bases for the different instruments will propose the extensive use of delegated acts to allow for more flexibility in the management of the policies during the financing period, while respecting the prerogatives of the two branches of legislator. It is considered that democratic scrutiny of external aid must be improved. This could be achieved by the use of delegated acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty for certain aspects of programmes, not only placing the co-legislators on an equal footing but also ensuring more flexibility in programming.