COUNCIL DECISION
of 26 September 2013
amending Decision 2007/641/EC, concerning the Republic of Fiji and extending the period of application thereof
(2013/476/EU)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 217 thereof,
Having regard to the Partnership Agreement between the members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, of the one part, and the European Community and its Member States, of the other part, signed in Cotonou on 23 June 2000 (1), as revised in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on 22 June 2010 (2) (‘the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement’), and in particular Article 96 thereof,
Having regard to the Internal Agreement between the representatives of the governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council, on measures to be taken and procedures to be followed for the implementation of the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement (3), and in particular Article 3 thereof,
Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 1905/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 establishing a financing instrument for development cooperation (4) (the ‘Development Cooperation Instrument’), and in particular Article 37 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,
Whereas:
(1)
Council Decision 2007/641/EC (5) was adopted to take appropriate measures following the violation of the essential elements referred to in Article 9 of the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement, and of the values referred to in Article 3 of the Development Cooperation Instrument.
(2)
Those measures have been extended by Council Decision 2009/735/EC (6), and subsequently by Council Decisions 2010/208/EU (7), 2010/589/EU (8), 2011/219/EU (9), 2011/637/EU (10) and 2012/523/EU (11), since not only has the Republic of Fiji yet to implement important commitments it made in consultations held in April 2007 concerning essential elements of the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement and the Development Cooperation Instrument, but there had also been important regressive developments concerning a number of these commitments.
(3)
There have been considerable developments since April 2007 and the commitments agreed with the Republic of Fiji will be revised accordingly. The commitments will be reviewed in the context of a political dialogue and in light of the current legal situation. Prospective reengagement towards the programming of future development assistance should continue.
(4)
Decision 2007/641/EC expires on 30 September 2013. It is appropriate to update that Decision and to extend its validity accordingly.
(5)
The European Union will engage in a political dialogue in order to review and update the commitments made in 2007 and adapt the appropriate measures accordingly,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:
Article 1
In Decision 2007/641/EC the second paragraph of Article 3 is replaced by the following:
‘It shall expire on 31 March 2015. It shall be reviewed regularly at least once every six months’.
Article 2
The letter in the Annex to this Decision shall be addressed to the Republic of Fiji.
Article 3
This Decision shall enter into force on the day of its adoption.
Done at Brussels, 26 September 2013.