Brussels, 18/12/2014 (Agence Europe) - The imminent withdrawal of the single statute for European foundations has caused a lot of concern at the European Foundation Centre (EFC). Negotiations on this subject are now well and truly at a dead-end.
In its 2015 work programme, the European Commission announced the withdrawal of its European Foundation Statute, formulated around three years ago. The proposal will disappear, without the promise, however, that another proposal will be reformulated, in exchange. The Commission has justified its decision by the fact that there has not been any progress on this question and as unanimity is required, there is little chance that an agreement will be obtained.
It is true that the most recent negotiations at Coreper reached a dead-end last November, particularly with regard to the basic capital required for setting up such a foundation (EUROPE 11202). The European Foundation Centre, however, said that there was not any fundamental opposition to the project for a single statute and that, on the contrary, the majority of member states would support it (with the exception of Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia and the United Kingdom). The ESF also regrets that the, “negotiating policy mechanism” had had more sway on the Commission decision, namely, the need to reach unanimity, than the actual objectives or values in the single statute.
The EFC subsequently deplores the fact that the decision to remove the statute sends out a message that undermines the determination to build a citizens-based European Union. (MD)