Brussels, 19/09/2000 (Agence Europe) - As EUROPE announced (see yesterday's bulletin, p.8), Monday's General Affairs Council, chaired by French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine, reached a political agreement on how to proceed with the revision of the Meda II Regulation. This agreement is based on a Presidency compromise which, among other things, provides for: - discarding a threshold for the examination by Member States of individual projects to be financed by Meda II, in exchange for a "right of evocation" for Member States on all elements of an annual financing plan; - direct budgetary assistance concerning structural adjustment facilities; - forwarding by the Commission to Member States, for information, of funding conventions before they are signed (the Commission was asking for after).
The Council also confirmed the agreement reached in the Committee of Permanent Representatives, on 13 September, on other aspects of the compromise suggested by the Presidency, which are: - principle of including a multi-annual reference sum (which still remains to be determined) for funding under Meda II; - need for an opinion from the Med Committee also for strategy documents; - improving coordination on the ground between the Commission and Member States; - principle of an annual meeting of the Med Committee devoted to monitoring the Structural Adjustment Facilities; - mechanism relating to the release of the "sunset clause", that the Commission has undertaken to apply to all external aid programmes as from budget 2001; - future examination, in the more general context of the effectiveness of the Union's external action (see pervious page) of the possibility of handing the execution of certain projects to national agencies.
The Council has instructed Coreper to finalise the examination of the issue in order to enable it to adopt the Draft Regulation as soon as possible.
In addition, the Council heard Chris Patten present it the Commission's Communication on rekindling the Barcelona Process (document published in our EUROPE/Document series No. 2206/2207), in view of the fourth meeting of Euro-Mediterranean foreign ministers to be held in Marseilles on 16/17 November. The Council stressed the importance of the meeting, which should lead to new prospects for the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. On the basis of this Communication, it will draw up guidelines in view of determining the EU's stance within that meeting.