Members of the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) stressed on Monday 4 February the need to distribute funds from the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA III) over the period 2021-2027 on the basis of the "principle of fair sharing" rather than country envelopes and to be able to suspend them if the rule of law is violated.
The draft report on the proposal for a regulation by the European Parliament and the Council establishing the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance for Knut Fleckenstein (S&D, Germany) and José Ignacio Salafranca (EPP, Spain), which they adopted, insists on a possible suspension of funds.
“This aid should be allocated according to a performance-based approach [...] with clear consequences in the event of a serious deterioration in respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and human rights”, the European Parliament said. In its view, the Commission should be able to suspend the aid or part of it and restore it once the reasons for suspending the aid had disappeared.
The AFET Committee did not take a position on the amount proposed by the Commission for IPA III - €14.5 billion in current prices. While Mr Fleckenstein considered this amount to be "a good start”, Mr Salafranca recalled that Parliament had proposed an allocation of €14.663 billion in current prices.
Parliament’s position will be voted on during the plenary session from 25 to 28 March in Strasbourg. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)