Strasbourg, 14/12/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 14 December, MEPs agreed by a very large majority (549 votes in favour, 34 against, with 12 abstentions) to the three amendments on the instrument for pre-accession assistance (IPA), proposed by the European Commission. MEPs are in favour of Iceland and Montenegro being transferred from the list of potential candidate countries to the list of candidate countries, following the decisions of the European Council in June and December 2011.
They also agree that calls for proposals in the framework of the cross-border co-operation programme for the IPA be limited to local actors in countries participating in the programme, which is the case for cross-border co-operation programmes in the European neighbourhood partnership instrument (ENPI), given the local character of these programmes. Article 19 on “rules for participation and origin, eligibility for subsidies” in the IPA regulation should therefore be amended, in order to align its provisions with Article 21, “participation in calls for offers and contracts”, in the ENPI.
Finally, the European Parliament approves the amendment of the regulation on the IPA to allow the Phare committee to continue to provide assistance to the European Commission in the management of financial assistance to the Turkish Cypriot community. (CG/transl.fl)