COMMISSION STATEMENT FOR THE BANANA ACCOMPANYING MEASURES (BAM) PROGRAMME WITHIN THE DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION INSTRUMENT (DCI)

In the specific case of the Banana Accompanying Measures (BAM) and in view of the rationale and the objectives of the programme as set out in Article 17a of the financing instrument for development cooperation (DCI), the European Commission confirms that, in determining the indicative country allocations, it will apply a methodology in an objective and uniform manner that takes account of the importance of the banana sector and the economic and developmental realities of each eligible beneficiary country.

The Commission declares that it intends to apply a methodology which will give approximately equal weight to the first two criteria, whilst the third criterion will be used as a development coefficient. The objective of this methodology is to give equivalent importance across all beneficiary countries to their level of trade in bananas with the European Union and the importance of banana exports to the Union to the economies of each beneficiary country. The relative level of development will modulate the allocations in favour of countries with lower development levels, in line with the Union's development objectives as set out in the Treaties and the DCI.

STATEMENT BY THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL ON THE USE OF DELEGATED ACTS IN THE FUTURE MULTIANNUAL FINANCIAL FRAMEWORK (MFF) 2014-2020

The European Parliament and the Council take note of the Commission Communication A Budget for Europe 2020 (COM (2011) 500 (1)), in particular in relation to the proposed use of delegated acts in the future external financing instruments and await legislative proposals, which will be duly considered.

(1)

The Commission in its Communication: A budget for Europe 2020 (COM (2011) 500), states that:

Furthermore, the future legal bases for the different instruments will propose the extensive use of delegated acts to allow for more flexibility in the management of the policies during the financing period, while respecting the prerogatives of the two branches of legislator.

and

It is considered that democratic scrutiny of external aid must be improved. This could be achieved by the use of delegated acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty for certain aspects of programmes, not only placing the co-legislators on an equal footing but also ensuring more flexibility in programming. For the EDF, it is proposed to bring scrutiny into line with the DCI, whilst taking into account the specificities of this instrument.