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Target group(s)

All stakeholders in beneficiary and EU countries are welcome to participate in this consultation: public national and local authorities, non-governmental organisations, academics, development agencies and bodies, think tanks, consultancies, private sector organisations, development banks and citizens.

Period of consultation

7 February 2017 to 3 May 2017

Objective of the consultation

The Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) of the European Union lays down the maximum annual amounts which the EU may spend in different political fields over a certain period. The current MFF covers the period 2014 to 2020.

Within the MFF, Heading 4 – Global Europe, covers all external action of the EU and is mainly composed of the External Financing Instruments (EFI) which provide support to third countries and people abroad. The EFIs are:

the Development Cooperation Instrument
the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights
the European Neighbourhood Instrument
the Greenland Decision
the Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace
the Instrument for Nuclear Safety Co-operation
the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance
the Overseas Countries and Territories Decision[1]
the Partnership Instrument for cooperation with third countries and
the Common Implementing Regulation which lays down the rules applied to most of the EFIs[2].

The 11th European Development Fund is also an EFI although not funded by the EU budget. It is as such not part of the MFF but it covers the same period and is included in this consultation.

According to Article 17 of the Common Implementing Regulation (CIR), a mid-term review of the instruments covered by the CIR has to be presented to the European Parliament and the Council by the end of 2017. To assist the Commission in this task, independent evaluations have been commissioned for each instrument. The draft evaluation reports are available hereunder.

The objective of this consultation is twofold:

to gather feedback from the broadest possible range of stakeholders, including those in beneficiary countries and in the EU Member States, on the emerging conclusions from the evaluations.
to gather preliminary ideas on the future external financing instruments after the current ones have expired by 31 December 2020.

The opinions expressed in these draft reports represent the authors’ points of view, which are not necessarily shared by the European Commission nor by the authorities of the countries involved.

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR CONTRIBUTION

Response to this public consultation shall be submitted through the following webpage:

https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/PCEFI

Questions are available in several languages depending on the instrument. Respondents can submit contributions in any of the EU official languages.

Transparency and confidentiality

In the interests of transparency, organisations are invited to provide the public with relevant information about themselves by registering in the Transparency Register and subscribing to its Code of Conduct. If the organisation is not registered, the submission will be published separately from the registered organisations.

Please visit http://ec.europa.eu/transparencyregister/ for further information.

Contributions received in the framework of this consultation, together with the identity of the contributor, will be published on the European Commission’s website, unless the contributor objects to publication of the personal data on the grounds that such publication would harm his or her legitimate interests. In this case, the contribution may be published in anonymous form. Your choice is requested in the questionnaire.

Protection of personal data

The policy on protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions is based on Regulation (EC) N° 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000.

Specific privacy statement

CONTACTS

The Directorate General for International Cooperation and Development (DEVCO) is in charge of the coordination of this open public consultation together with the Directorate General for Enlargement and Neighbourhood, the Service for Foreign Policy Instruments and the European External Action Service.

Contact e-mail: europeaid-01@ec.europa.eu (link sends e-mail)

RESULTS AND NEXT STEPS

All comments received through this consultation will be reviewed and considered when finalising the evaluations. They will inform the Commission both for the mid-term review report and for the work on future instruments.

REFERENCE DOCUMENTS

Draft Evaluation reports:

Relevant Regulations:

[1] The evaluation of the Overseas Countries and Territories Decision is included in the European Development Fund report.

[2] The CIR lays down rules and conditions for the provision of financial assistance to actions for the following EFIs : the Development Cooperation Instrument, the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights, the European Neighbourhood Instrument, the Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace, the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance and the Partnership Instrument for co-operation with third countries (PI). The Instrument for Nuclear Safety and Co-operation and the Greenland Decision are not mentioned in Art. 1 of the CIR Regulation but contain references to the CIR.

Public Consultation on the External Financing Instruments of the European Union