Instrument for Stability

The Instrument for Stability (IfS, more commonly referred to as the Stability Instrument) was a financial and political instrument at the disposal of the European Union. It was prepared at strategic level by the EEAS and implemented by the European Commission. In 2021 the IfS was merged into Global Europe.[1]

The objective was three-fold:[2]

  1. Respond to urgent needs due to political instability or a major disaster;[3]
  2. Build the conditions for long term stability in particular by addressing some major risks and threats that prevent political security and economic development, such as terrorism, organized crime, illicit trafficking, chemical-biological-nuclear risks but also new challenges such as pandemics, cybercrime, climate change or the protection of critical infrastructure;[4]
  3. Participate to the crisis management cycle by supporting CSDP operations and by contributing to restore stability after the crisis or the conflict.[3]

The Instrument for Stability was proposed by the Commission in September 2004 and created by the Council and Parliament on 15 November 2006 through Regulation No 1717/2006. It replaces the Rapid Reaction Mechanism (RRM), which was considered unwieldy as it could only finance projects of up to six months.[5] In 2011 negotiations began for the next EU Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF) 2014-2020 including the legal basis for the Instrument for Stability for the period. The independent foundation the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) suggested that while the IfS was a useful instrument for conflict prevention and peacebuilding that it was not appropriate for it to be the only EU financial instrument that should include them as a key consideration for the period 2014 - 2020.[6]

  1. ^ Paola Votta, Zabala, Global Europe, the most innovative instrument for External Action, 23 June 2022
  2. ^ "Regulation Establishing an Instrument for Stability", EC Regulation No 1717/2006, November 15, 2006.
  3. ^ a b Stefan Gänzle, Coping with the ‘Security-Development Nexus': the European Community’s Instrument for Stability; rationale and potential, German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), 2009
  4. ^ Instituto Español de Estudios Estratégicos, European Union and non-proliferation and disarmament], 20 augustus 2014
  5. ^ Chantal Lavallée, (2013).‘From the Rapid Reaction Mechanism to the Instrument for Stability: The Empowerment of the European Commission in Crisis Response and Conflict Prevention’, Journal of Contemporary European Research.9(3), 372‐389
  6. ^ Görtz, S. and A. Sherriff. 2012. 1st Among Equals? The Instrument for Stability and Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding in the EU’s new financial perspective. (ECDPM Briefing Note 39), http://www.ecdpm.org/bn39 Archived 2012-07-28 at archive.today