INFORMACIÓN PRIMARIA

After the October resolution, that of December on the general guidelines for 1989301 _was

confined to reiterating Parliament’s stance, tabling an amendment which led to conflict with the Commission in the following year:

The Commission shall, in the course of 1989, propose the implementation of a fully-fledged cooperation strategy based on multi-annual programmes catering for the specific needs of these two regions of the world, setting out a framework of actions tailored to the different situations of groups of countries on these two continents and endowed with adequate financial resources.

The Commission did not take up this amendment, and the Committee on Development proposed on two occasions that Parliament should reject the guidelines for 1990302 _for

reasons set out in both reports as follows:

Tabling amendments to the Commission’s proposal is a difficult task given the fact that it is a document consisting of five articles which does not really get to the root of the problems in these two regions of the world, on account of its extremely vague wording. Indeed, it does not contain the slightest reference to issues such as protection of the environment, the role of women, integration of the cooperation instruments, the ‘informal’ sector, the urban sector, indigenous peoples, NGOs, coordination of Community assistance with that of the Member States, regional integration issues… and the list could be much longer.

These criticisms also featured in the third report303_{, which did however propose that the}

Commission’s proposal be accepted without amendment, for reasons explained by the rapporteur in the Chamber304_{: the persistence of the Committee on Development had}

persuaded the Commission to publish much more thorough multi-annual guidelines than in the past. Although these had no legal status, they did represent a step forward, enabling Parliament to approve the Commission’s text with an amendment formalising the undertaking made by the Commission:

whereas the Commission has proposed to the Council and to the Parliament that these guidelines should henceforth be founded on a multi-annual basis for 1991-1995 and whereas the Council has already begun work on the communication from the Commission.

301 _{EP resolution of 16 December 1988 embodying the European Parliament’s opinion on the Commission proposal for a Council}

decision determining the general guidelines for 1989 concerning financial and technical aid to Latin American and Asian developing countries, OJ C 12, 16.1.89, p. 366 following on from the report of the Committee on Development with the same title. Doc. A2-276/88. Rap: Crusol.

302 _{EP - Committee on Development...- General guidelines for 1990 in respect of financial and technical assistance for the developing}

countries in Asia and Latin America. Doc. A3-112/89 and A3-11/90 (second report). Rap: van Putten. Parliament did not formally reject the Commission’s proposal when referring the report back to the Committee.

303 _{Report with the same title as those cited in the previous footnote. Doc. A3-151/90. Rap: van Putten, followed by the resolution of}

14 June 1990, OJ C 175 of 16.7.90, p. 174.

Another criticism emerged in the reports on the guidelines for 1990 in relation to the basic regulation on development aid for countries in Latin America and Asia dating from 1981305_,

regarded as an inadequate basis for readjusting aid in line with the changed circumstances in the beneficiary countries and the wishes of the European Parliament, first and foremost the definition of multi-annual guidelines. In response to this criticism the Commission proposed a new regulation ranging from technical and financial cooperation to economic cooperation. The verdict of the Committee on Development was favourable on the whole:

The new Regulation constitutes significant progress on the substance since it facilitates the carrying out of other initiatives and authorises assistance and cooperation in respect of the environment, women, demographic issues, the fight against drugs, etc. The first article stresses the importance of promoting human rights306_.

The draft Regulation did however come in for criticism from a technical point of view, and Parliament put forward several amendments307 _{highlighting the initiatives it supported.}

Two years after the 1992 Regulation308 _{entered into force, the Committee on Development}

carried out a review of cooperation with the Asian and Latin American countries309_{. Forty}

countries with 3.5 billion inhabitants were affected in these two regions which, between them, had received ECU 4 711 million by way of technical and financial cooperation from 1976 to 1989, while economic cooperation had amounted to ECU 217 million. The latter had been facilitated by the 1992 Regulation, which had also made it possible to extend the coverage to other significant areas such as human rights, the fight against drug trafficking and the environment. The circumstances of the two regions, Asia and Latin America, were however very different, as were their approaches to problems such as human rights, which had improved considerably in Latin America but were still subordinate to economic growth in Asia. By the same token, Latin America was more integrated than Asia as regards regional cooperation, which was much more a matter for the Member States than for the Union, although ASEAN was beginning to gain credibility as it took its first steps towards a customs union.

Parliament’s resolution stressed the need for a new agreement with ASEAN addressing the issue of human rights and democratisation. As concerns aid, it pointed out that 80% of the projects and 70% of the funds disbursed by way of technical and financial cooperation had until then related to rural development, whereas almost all the countries in both regions had by now solved their problems in that sphere; the time had therefore come to focus on economic and commercial cooperation. To that end, the Member States were invited to encourage public and private investment, thereby promoting industrial, scientific and technical cooperation. The resolution calls on the Commission to strengthen

305 _{Regulation (EEC) No 442/81.}

306 _{EP - Committee on Development...- Report on the proposal for a Council regulation concerning financial and technical assistance}

to, and economic cooperation with, the developing countries in Asia and Latin America (DCLAA) Doc. A3-218/91. Rap: Ruiz- Gimenez Aguilar.

307 _{EP resolution of 10 September 1991 on the proposal for a Council regulation concerning financial and technical assistance to, and}

economic cooperation with, the developing countries in Asia and Latin America (DCLAA), OJ C 267, 14.10.91, p. 35.

308 _{Council Regulation (EEC) No 443/92 of 25 February 1992 on financial and technical assistance to, and economic cooperation with,}

the developing countries in Asia and Latin America, OJ L 52, 27.2.1992, p. 1, entry into force on 22 February 1992.

309 _{EP - Committee on Development...- Report on cooperation with the developing countries in Latin America and Asia (DCLAA).}

its representations in the two regions, both by equipping them with adequate operating resources and by endowing them with decision-making powers; the central system for assessing and monitoring projects should also be further developed.

4. stabilisation of export earnings for the least developed countries in Asia and latin