On the proposal for a Council Decision amending Decision (EU) 2021/1764 on the Association of the Overseas Countries and Territories with the European Union including relations between the European Union on the one hand, and Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark on the other
BUDG-AD-785490
Committee on Budgets · Rapporteur: Bogdan Rzońca
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The Committee on Budgets gives its budgetary assessment of the proposal to amend Decision (EU) 2021/1764 on the association of the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) and Greenland with the European Union.¶¶¶ It considers the programme envelope should rise from EUR 999 000 000 to EUR 2 084 775 000 in current prices (EUR 1 850 000 000 in 2025 constant prices).¶ It welcomes the proposed EUR 530 million for Greenland and asks for transparent criteria, sufficient staff, detailed budget lines and clear sub-envelopes for OCTs.¶¶¶ It calls for monitoring of loans and guarantees, complementarity with other programmes, scrutiny of external assigned revenue, and consistency with the Performance Regulation.¶¶¶
Committee position. The Committee on Budgets carried out a budgetary assessment of the proposal and recommends increasing the programme envelope, strengthening transparency and oversight, and ensuring clear criteria, detailed budget lines and monitoring of loans and guarantees.¶¶¶
Key points
- The proposal sets a framework for the association of the EU's OCTs, including Greenland, and aims to foster cooperation in strategic sectors such as critical raw materials, renewable energy and sustainable tourism.¶¶
- The programme simplifies the current funding architecture but stays separate from Global Europe because of its distinct legal nature.¶
- The Committee considers the programme envelope should be increased from EUR 999 000 000 to EUR 2 084 775 000 in current prices (EUR 1 850 000 000 in 2025 constant prices).¶
- It welcomes the proposed EUR 530 million for Greenland and underlines the need for long-term EU engagement in the Arctic.¶
- It says funding for OCTs should follow transparent and verifiable criteria reflecting their structural constraints and their contribution to connectivity, renewable energy, regional integration, health, education, cybersecurity, maritime security, monitoring of exclusive economic zones, critical infrastructure resilience and supply chain security.¶
- It asks for sufficient human resources from the outset and throughout the next multiannual financial framework (MFF) programming period.¶
- It deplores the lack of a precise budget breakdown and recommends clear, stable indicative sub-envelopes for OCTs to ensure predictability and transparency.¶
- It recalls the proposed Performance Regulation and says changes to the decision's architecture, objectives and eligible actions must be reflected in Annex I to that regulation, while sectoral legislation should stay consistent with it.¶
- It deplores the lack of a detailed indicative budgetary nomenclature and insists on specific OCT thematic and geographical budget lines, in line with Article 47(2) of the Financial Regulation.¶
- It says loans and budgetary guarantees to OCTs through Global Europe or the InvestEU instrument of the European Competitiveness Fund must be clearly identified, monitored, assessed for their impact on MFF headroom, and provisioned from the OCT programme.¶
- It stresses that complementarity with Global Europe and the European Competitiveness Fund must preserve traceability of expenditure, the prerogatives of the budgetary authority and accessibility for beneficiaries, and that reflows from financial instruments should remain in the OCT programme.¶
- It says external assigned revenue under the OCT programme must be clearly circumscribed, transparent and subject to parliamentary scrutiny, and that contributions from third parties must follow the Financial Regulation.¶
Who is affected
- Overseas Countries and Territories: the programme envelope, criteria and sub-envelopes would shape the funding they receive.¶¶¶
- Greenland: the proposal allocates EUR 530 million to it and the Committee seeks stronger long-term EU engagement.¶
- The Commission: it would have to provide a more detailed nomenclature and breakdown and respect transparency and oversight requirements.¶¶
- The budgetary authority: it would gain specific OCT budget lines and scrutiny over external assigned revenue and reallocations.¶
- Member states, third countries and other donors: their additional financial contributions would be subject to the Financial Regulation and parliamentary scrutiny.