Introductory text

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to the Internal Agreement between the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States of the European Union, meeting within the Council, on the financing of European Union aid under the multiannual financial framework for the period 2014 to 2020, in accordance with the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement, and on the allocation of financial assistance for the Overseas Countries and Territories to which Part Four of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union applies^f1 (‘the Internal Agreement’), and in particular Article 10(2) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Court of Auditors^f2,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Investment Bank,

Whereas:

On 5 June 2014, the European Central Bank adopted a Decision^f3 providing for a negative interest rate, which entails a payment obligation on the deposit holder to the relevant national central bank (NCB) including the right of that NCB to debit the relevant government deposit account accordingly. Other NCBs in which European Development Fund (EDF) funds have to be kept in accordance with Article 22 of Council Regulation (EU) 2015/323^f4 adopted similar decisions.

According to Article 22(3) of Regulation (EU) 2015/323, contributions to the EDF are to be credited by each Member State to a special account entitled ‘European Commission — European Development Fund’ opened with the central bank of the relevant Member State or the financial institution designated by it.

Those special accounts opened by the Member States in the name of the Commission, for the purpose of depositing EDF contributions, should be kept free of any charge and interest until they need to be used for payments, thereby preventing losses for the EDF budget. The application of charges or negative interest would reduce the EDF budget and lead to unequal treatment of Member States. Therefore, where negative interest is applicable to EDF accounts, the Member States concerned should credit an amount equal to the amount of that negative interest. Given that some Member States do not have the possibility of avoiding the financial impact of the obligation to credit such amounts of negative interest to the EDF accounts, it is appropriate that the Commission, when covering its payment requirements, aims to reduce that impact by drawing with priority on the sums credited to the accounts concerned.

Regulation (EU) 2015/323 should therefore be amended accordingly,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: