Increasing the EU budget allocation for external action by 30% to bring it to €123 billion after 2020 (compared with €94.5 billion from 2014 to 2020), while greatly simplifying the structure of this budget in the EU's 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework (MFF) – this is the political will expressed by the European Commission in its legislative proposals presented on Thursday 14 June to support its MFF proposal of 2 May.
Through this 'External Action' budget (Heading 6 of the MFF), the Commission hopes to give the EU the means to play its role as a key actor on the international stage. This would involve supporting partner countries in their political and economic transformation required by sustainable development, promoting peace and democracy, contributing to the eradication of poverty, helping the EU's neighbouring countries develop economically, and continuing to bring humanitarian assistance to vulnerable people in the world.
The Commission says this simplification consists of grouping budget lines together that are currently separated, for the sake of consistency or to enable a more effective response to global challenges, even if voices are already speaking up to criticise a lack of transparency that would result from this common pot.
The upwardly revised budget is deprived of the British contribution but is increased by the European Development Fund (EDF) that is currently managed by the member states and Commission outside the MFF, and that is thus outside the democratic control of the European Parliament but enables greater visibility of the action of member states active in particular regions of the world.
The newly proposed budget was presented to press by High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini as "a political statement". A 30% increase in the budget "is an unprecedented investment in our global role", she said, adding that "it is recognition of the added value of the EU work on foreign policy. More resources for more action as a reliable, predictable, cooperative global player – exactly what our citizens and our partners expect in these troubled times.", she said. Underlining the advantage of an EU critical mass for having an impact on the international stage, and for responding to global challenges, Mogherini also said that "together we can have an impact that no member state alone can have in today's world".
Neighbourhood/Development. It is the neighbourhood, development and international cooperation instrument (the NDICI, a new single instrument) that would take the lion's share (some €89.2 billion) of the €123 billion, as EUROPE has already reported (see EUROPE 12015).
The budget would integrate the EDF, the neighbourhood instrument, the development cooperation instrument, the European instrument for democracy and human rights, the instrument for stability and peace, the instrument for cooperation with third countries, and the guarantee fund for external actions.
The flexibility the EDF currently offers would be preserved as the European Commission proposes that, in the whole External Action envelope, the unused funds could be reused in the following years to adapt spending to needs according to the sometimes swift development of situations, especially crisis situations.
In the opinion of European Commissioner of International Cooperation and Development Neven Mimica, these proposals will enable the EU to promote the universal sustainable development programme, and help EU partner countries eradicate poverty and respond to global challenges.
The structure of the single instrument would be based on three pillars: - a geographical pillar (neighbourhood, sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean); - a thematic pillar (human rights and democracy, civil society organisations, stability and peace, global challenges); - and a 'rapid response action' pillar for unforeseen or emerging challenges, such as migration pressure (see EUROPE 12039).
Assistance for pre-accession (IPA III) to the EU would benefit from a budget of €14.5 billion to "maintain the privileged relationship with our partners from the East and South", Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn stated (see other article).
The humanitarian aid budget would be strengthened and brought to €11 billion (compared with the current €8.5 billion) – in other words, a 30% increase to enable the EU to save lives and help vulnerable populations in the world when large scale natural disasters and crises of human origin are multiplying.
"As humanitarian emergencies in the world are increasing every year and becoming more complex, the EU is reinforcing its leading role as a major humanitarian aid provider", European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides stated. In 2018, over 130 million people in the world are in need of humanitarian aid and protection.
A budget of €3 billion would be provided for the foreign and security policy in order to finance the response to conflicts or external crises, to help partner countries develop their capacities, and to protect EU citizens.
Cooperation with overseas countries and territories (OCT), which is currently financed by the EDF (mainly for cooperation with countries from the ACP Group), would have a budget of €500 million that would also finance cooperation with Greenland.
A new European instrument for nuclear safety would be given €300 million.
A reserve budget of €4.5 billion would enable short-term priorities that are linked to unforeseen crises, like sudden migration pressure, to be addressed.
At the European Parliament, which constitutes the budgetary authority with the EU Council, the ALDE group immediately welcomed the proposed increase in the budget and the EDF budgetisation, but concerns were expressed about the lack of general transparency. "We need more clarity from the European Commission about the way in which and by whom this money will be governed. Scrutiny by the Parliament is key to improve transparency. If we want to maximise the impact of our foreign policy, we need an analysis of how much money is spent, in which country and with what effect", Marietje Schaake MEP (ALDE, Netherlands), chair of the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee working group on the EU's external financial instruments, stated.
Her colleague Pavel Telička MEP (ALDE, Czech Republic), vice-president of the European Parliament for democracy and human rights, said that "integrating the Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) into one single instrument would send a bad signal to human rights defenders and democracy activists around the world". (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)