Which objective(s) does the Commission pursue?

The objective of the Commission’s proposal for a new European Instrument for International Nuclear Safety Cooperation was to preserve and improve the specificities of the previous Instrument for Nuclear Safety cooperation (INSC); INSC has been ackowledged as a good practice during the 7^th review meeting of the contracting parties to the Convention on Nuclear Safety held on 27 March – 7 April 2017 in Vienna, Austria. It is a unique international instrument that participates to the European policy by promoting the establishment of effective and efficient nuclear safety standards in third countries.

In line with the Communication ‘A new, modern Multiannual Financial Framework for a European Union that delivers efficiently on its priorities post-2020’ and as concluded in the impact assessment¹ that accompanied the Commission’s proposal, several instruments under the Global Europe heading of the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014 - 2020, should be streamlined into one broad instrument. Nevertheless, due to its separate legal basis (Euratom Treaty), the new INSC is complemenatry to the Neighbourhood Development and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe.

When carrying out the the evaluation documents that fed into the mid-term review report², three types of consultations with stakeholders took place. Evaluators carried out around one thousand structured or semi-structured interviews with EU officials and representatives from EU institutions, Member States and partner countries. Several technical workshops to present and discuss the draft evaluations were held with participants from the European Parliament, Council working groups, Member States committees, and civil society organisations and local authorities. A public consultation was held in early 2017. It aimed at gathering feedback from stakeholders on the findings emerging from the evaluations of the instruments and on the future external action instruments after 2020. A final evaluation of INSC 2014 – 2020 has been completed in December 2021 and confirmed the conclusions of the mid-term review; the main messages emerging from the consulted stakeholders are summarised below.

· Coherence: the new instrument strengthens the consistency to EU nuclear safety policy between the internal and external activities and merges the geographic/thematic strategy to promote the Union highest nuclear safety standards;

· Flexibility: the INSC is a policy-driven and enabling instrument providing the necessary flexibility on financial capacity and on substance that allow to adjust to new and evolving challenges;

· Unique instrument that fits well to its purposes and responds to partners’ needs and priorities.

· Leverage and impact: the EINS has a unique added value to engage in nuclear safety cooperation with third countries, acting as a door opener in volatile or difficult environments (as e.g. Iran). It has a political and financial leverage by providing the EU contribution to international fora (as e.g. G7 Nuclear Safety and Security Group) and initiatives (Chernobyl).

Nuclear safety is an important part of the EU external action and should continue to be part of a broad instrument. Nevertheless some nuclear activities (nuclear safeguards and nuclear safety) are the competence of the Euratom Treaty, and the INSC has its own legal basis (Article 203 of the Euratom Treaty) which is not compatible with the ordinary legislative procedure. As the INSC cannot be totally integrated into a broad instrument, a separate instrument is kept based on the Euratom legal base in order to pursue the current objectives of the INSC, complementing the broad instrument.

Estimated savings and benefits

The mid-term review report³, confirmed by the final evaluation, pointed to positive trends emerging in relation to achieving results. However, difficulties in measuring achievements were noted. There was often limited information on monitoring systems referred to in the instruments. There was a lack of data (including baselines) to measure if the instruments were on track to meet some of their objectives (particularly the high-level ones), and an understanding that many external factors (e.g. partner country policies and other donors) influence achievement of the objectives. Nevertheless, the INSC was considered a mature fit for purpose instrument, and extensive information deriving from qualitative data was considered sufficient given that the new instrument builds on the past success, that significant changes are not expected and that it will remain a stand alone instrument.

^[1] SWD (2018) 337 final

^[2] SWD(2017) 605

^[3] COM (2017) 720 final

Outcome of Legislative Procedure

The main changes between the Commission proposal and the adopted legal basis lie in the eligibility criteria enforcing conditionality by the partner countries on transparency and independence of the nuclear safety regulatory authorities.

Estimated savings and benefits

The additional conditions strengthen the efficiency of the EU support to establish fully independent and competent nuclear safety authorities in the beneficiary countries, aligning themselves on the EU acquis promoting the nuclear safety culture.