The Committee on Budgets adopted the report by Jens GEIER (S&D, DE) on the proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on the mobilisation of the Flexibility Instrument to finance immediate budgetary measures to address the on-going migration, refugee and security crisis.
As a reminder, the Flexibility Instrument is intended to allow the financing of clearly identified expenditure which could not be financed within the limits of the ceilings available for one or more other headings.
The 2017 ceilings for heading 3 do not allow for an adequate financing of urgent measures in the field of migration, refugees and security.
Therefore, Members agreed with the proposal to mobilise the Flexibility Instrument for an amount of EUR 530 million in commitment appropriations.
On the basis of the expected payment profile, the payment appropriations corresponding to the mobilisation of the Flexibility Instrument should be distributed over several financial years and are estimated at:
Members reiterated that the mobilisation of this instrument, as provided for in Article 11 of the MFF Regulation, shows, once more, the crucial need for the Union budget to be more flexible. They reiterated their position expressed in the framework of the MFF mid-term review/revision that the annual amount of the Flexibility Instrument be increased to EUR 2 billion.