The European Parliament will promptly prepare its position on the one-year extension of the four EU emergency trust funds that expire at the end of the year, assured the Chairs of the relevant parliamentary committees on Wednesday 28 October.
These include the Trust Fund for Africa, created in 2015 at the peak of the migrant crisis, the Bêkou Fund for the Central African Republic, created in 2013, the Peace Fund for Colombia and the Fund for Syria (see other news).
Although Parliament has never been fond of these funds, created outside the budget as a temporary solution to respond flexibly to crises, it is willing to be open to the Commission’s proposal, stressed MEPs during a virtual exchange of views between the Committees on Budget, Foreign Affairs and Development and the European Commission.
Budget Committee Chairman Johan Van Overtveldt stressed that “like some Member States, Parliament would have appreciated receiving the consultation documents on the extension a little earlier”, but assured that “Parliament will play a constructive role”.
Thus, the rapporteurs will draw up recommendations which will be forwarded to the coordinators of the three committees. They will begin their deliberations starting the week of 9 November. The results will be forwarded to Parliament’s President David Sassoli, who will consult the political groups at the Conference of Presidents. Parliament’s position will be announced at the second plenary session in November.
Sandra Kramer, Director for Africa in the Commission’s Development services, said that on 29 September the Boards of the three funds unanimously adopted the extensions. She explained that the purpose of this extension - which will be only for the Bêkou Fund - was to allow for contracting and committing the available funds.
“This would give us more time to use the resources received this year from the Commission and other donors. We have 314 million euros and an extension would allow us to carry out all our commitments effectively”, she explained, referring in particular to the execution of contracts recently signed in response to the Covid-19 crisis.
Under no circumstances is the proposal intended to allow the Commission to transfer into a fund resources that would be available in the NDICI financial instrument in the next budget 2021-2027, she said.
“We will assess whether a one-year extension is warranted. In the past, Parliament has been rather sceptical, but we will remain open-minded”, assured Foreign Affairs Committee Chair David McAllister.
Development Committee Chair Tomas Tobé stressed that Parliament would like to formalise its observer status on the strategic board of the various Funds.
Several MEPs called for better monitoring of expenditures, drawing lessons from the Court of Auditors’ critical report, particularly regarding unclear objectives and a lack of indicators. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)