part 1 of the african peace facility evaluation - European ...

‣ EEAS, because APF finances peace and security activities.
‣ The Legal service, whose agreement is required before initiating written procedures, except
for decisions on standard acts to which it has already agreed in advance (‘repetitive acts’).
‣ The EC Secretariat General, which may commit the EC vis-à-vis other institutions or bodies.
‣ DG budget, because APF has a direct budgetary impact.
‣ ECHO, because of the connections between APF and humanitarian actions.
‣ OLAF, which must be consulted on proposals concerning areas vulnerable to fraud.
The inter-service consultations take 10 working days if the file is less than 20 pages, which is
generally the case for APF, otherwise it may take 15 working days, or even three weeks. In case of
obvious political urgency (and not to make up for administrative delay), EC procedures allow DEVCO
either to ask the SG for permission to use the ‘fast track’ procedure (consultation ending with a
meeting) or launch a shorter consultation. In any case, DEVCO can always proactively contact the
DGs consulted and ask them to reply quicker.
The ‘fast track’ procedure for inter-service consultations lasts for three days: two to revise the
documents and one for a special meeting. DEVCO used this procedure for some APF interventions,
such as AMISOM II, MAES and MICOPAX 1A in December 2008 and in 2007 for the adoption of the
APF Action Programme 2008-2010.
After the inter-service consultation process has ended, the dossier comes back to DEVCO and is
revised according to the comments made by the departments consulted. This review normally takes
around four days. DEVCO has never had a negative opinion from the inter-service consultation during
the period analysed in this evaluation. The evaluation recommends sparing time through a 48-hour or
72-hour no-objection process to replace the formal visa system. This would modernise and speed-up
the ISC, which is mainly about information sharing. There would still be the possibility to object, and a
meeting could be called in case a decision needed further debate.
TRANSLATION
The ‘dossier’ is sent for translation into the three Commission working languages: it takes 5 to 10
working days, depending on the length of the text. The backlog of work or holiday periods may delay
translation. When the translations are finished, the dossier is encoded in the system and C3 head of
unit signs. Then, the dossier goes back to DEVCO, where the Assistant Director (one day) and the
Director (two days) sign and send it to the College of Commissioners for adoption.
ADOPTION BY THE COLLEGE OF COMMISSIONERS
During the period analysed in this evaluation, APF decisions were adopted by making use of the
‘written procedure’. The Commissioner for Development receives the dossier and gives his/her
agreement. As described above for other stages, C6 officials informally discuss with the cabinet in
advance to prevent any unforeseen problem, which takes three days. Then, the Secretariat General
has three days to check the dossier again, before launching the written procedure with the members
of the College of Commissioners: they have five working days to oppose the APF decision, otherwise
it is adopted. The President of the Commission may decide, for special urgent matters, to use an
accelerated procedure, in which case the written procedure is limited to 1 to 3 days, but this possibility
has never been used for APF decisions.
The adopted APF decision goes back to DEVCO, where the contribution agreement or grant contract
with AU may be signed.
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