MEPs ready for negotiations on new financing instruments for EU external action
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8. Oktober 2019 In Aktuell

MEPs ready for negotiations on new financing instruments for EU external action

MEPs have voted to start negotiations with the Council on the new Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument and the new Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance.

The Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI)

The new financial instrument would, once agreed by both Parliament and EU ministers, be used to distribute a large part of EU external action funding. The proposed budget by Parliament is 93.154 billion euro for the 2021-2027 period, an increase of almost 4 billion euro compared to the EU Commission’s proposal.

The NDICI merges most of the EU’s current external financing instruments, including the European Development Fund, into one broad instrument. Once in force, it will be the EU’s main tool to foster cooperation with countries in the EU’s neighborhood and beyond, and to implement its international commitments deriving from the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on climate change. Read more here.

The decision to enter into interinstitutional negotiations (the so-called “trilogues”) with the Council was approved by MEPs in Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee and Development Committee on Tuesday afternoon by 72 votes in favor, 15 against and 0 abstentions. The first trilogue meeting is scheduled to take place before the end of the year (during the mandate of the current Finnish Presidency of the Council).

The Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA III)

EU pre-accession funds assist candidate and potential candidate countries aspiring to join the EU to reform their political, economic and legal systems, in order to prepare for the rights and obligations of an EU membership.

The proposed budget for the implementation of the IPA III instrument for the period 2021-2027 is 14.5 billion euro in current prices, with the EP’s position being 14.66 billion euro. Read more on MEPs’ position on the proposed IPA III financing instrument here.

The decision to enter into interinstitutional negotiations with the Council on the IPA III was approved by MEPs in Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday afternoon by 59 votes in favor, 8 against and 0 abstentions.

Once the negotiations have concluded, and in order to become EU law, the new instruments would both still be subject to a final approval vote in plenary and the Council.