Press release
146b086e
6 December 2001.
ACP Council of Ministers. ACP concerns about the use of unallocated EDF by the European Commission and by the closure of EU delegations in some ACP countries.
Use of EDF funds. The ACP Council of Ministers (Brussels, 6-7 December 2001) is concerned at what appears to be a trend at the European Commission to allocate EDF funds without consulting the Group.
In October 2001, the Commission informed the ACP Group of a 3-point proposal for an available amount of 290.7 million Euro as follows:
-60 million Euros for debt relief of the ACP LDCs classified among the Highly-Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC);
-180.7 million Euro for sectoral aid, including reproductive health (44 million Euro), the private sector (50 million Euro), peace building and conflict prevention, (50 million Euro). Provision has also been made for advances for the 2002 budgets of the CTA (13.7 million Euro) and CDE (23 million Euro) by virtue of the transitional measures applicable to the two institutions; and
-50 million Euro in aid to Somalia to prevent the disruption of ongoing projects and programmes prior to the availability of 9th EDF national allocations.
From the discussions held with the Commission, it appeared that it had already taken decisions concerning debt relief (60 million) and aid to Somalia (50 million).
Consequently, only an amount of 144 million Euro could be the focus of discussions taking in account the ACP Group’s concerns, relating to: reproductive health; the private sector ; peace building and conflict prevention.
A consensus was reached to accept the allocation of not only the 144 million but of the 180. 7 million package.
As regards private sector support, the ACP entered a reservation concerning the funds being allocated to the EBAS and DIAGNOS projects. These projects and programmes are currently under evaluation and the conclusions are not yet known. The ACP proposes to await the results of the evaluation of these projects and also asked a fundamental question, i.e., whether the EBAS and DIAGNOS programmes are not covering the same areas as the CDE. If this is so, the ACP considered it necessary to rationalise these instruments in future. They further noted that only 6.82% of the funds allocated to the private sector under the 8th EDF had actually been disbursed, and expressed its grave concern on this situation.
As regards health, the ACP expressed concern at the fact that the Commission uses the funds from the 8th EDF to meet its commitments made elsewhere on the international scene. In fact, the Commission’s proposal intimated that the 44 million would be made available to International Planned Parenthood, or the “United Nations Population Fund”. The transfer could lack transparency, and there is no way of guaranteeing that the ACP funds will be channelled exclusively into projects in ACP countries.
It was also decided to meet with the Commission to express the ACP Group’s concern at the fact that there had been no true dialogue on the allocation of EDF underspend which requires a joint decision, and to raise the fundamental question of the decision-making process relating to EDF resources.
The intention is to reiterate to the Commission that the respective responsibilities and obligations of both the ACP and the EU in the process should be well understood and respected before any decision is submitted to the ACP-EC Council of Ministers.
It was also agreed that the Commission be asked to give clarifications regarding:
-the body that will manage the funds and, more particularly, the amount to be allocated for public health;
-the implementation mechanism;
-guarantees that the amounts will be exclusively devoted to projects in ACP countries.
These clarifications are necessary before any decision can be taken on the matter, especially with regard to the projects that will be submitted by the ACP countries.
Closure of delegations. The Council considered an issue of great concern owing to the rationalisation of the European Commission’s external services, which has resulted in reductions in the delegations’ resources and their geographical representation throughout the world.
These bear on the closure of certain delegations in the ACP countries, the redeployment of some officials at post by reducing the size of other delegations, and the transformation of the delegations into offices dependent on other delegations. All these changes, it appears, are motivated by financial constraints and the search for the improved functioning of the delegations.
While acknowledging that the restructuring of the Commission’s services is an internal matter, the Committee nevertheless considers that the closures of the delegations may impact negatively on the implementation of the Cotonou Agreement in the countries concerned.
It was noted that about 9 ACP countries are affected by the closure and/or transformations of the delegations into offices that depend on other delegations, and similar situations may arise in future.
contact : Hegel Goutier tel : +32 2 743 06 04 fax + 32 2 743 06 58 http://www.acp.int