Negotiators from the European Parliament and the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU, assisted by the Commission, made good progress during their third 'trilogue' on Monday 11 March in Strasbourg on the LIFE post-2020 programme - the only financial instrument specifically dedicated to environmental, nature protection and climate action projects.
This trilogue, which ended at 4 am on Tuesday, allowed negotiators to reach a "common understanding" on all aspects of the programme, except those related to the financial envelope, the amount of which is suspended at the end of the negotiations on the EU 2021-2027 budget (see EUROPE 12204/12).
‘Common understanding’ is the term used to refer to the level of consensus reached on a negotiated text line by line, but which the Parliament that emerged from the polls in May would theoretically have the right to reopen, if it so wished - explained a diplomatic source.
The priorities of the programme have been clarified: on the one hand, environmental protection with two sub-programmes (protection of nature and biodiversity; circular economy and quality of life) and, on the other hand, climate action divided into two sub-programmes (mitigation and adaptation; transition to clean energy). Progress has also been made on the geographical balance of the projects funded and the percentage of co-financing of biodiversity conservation projects.
The ambassadors of the Twenty-eight (Coreper) will be informed on Wednesday 13 March of the outcome of these negotiations, but Coreper's agreement is expected at a later date, not yet fixed, according to the same source.
While the negotiations have been so long, while both European Parliament and Council of the EU attach great importance to LIFE and have, from the outset, fairly close positions, it is the geographical balance of the projects that has given the negotiators the most difficulty.
Parliament feared that the Council of the EU's request for a better geographical balance of projects between the various Member States - through the financing of capacity development projects to present quality projects - would lead to a dilution of the criterion of the quality of dossiers, which alone would continue to determine the eligibility of projects for funding. Another trilogue will take place in the autumn after the agreement on the EU budget. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)