Amending budget 4/2016: update of appropriations, reduction of payment and commitment appropriations, extension of EFSI, staff establishment plan of Frontex, update of revenue appropriations

2016/2257(BUD)

PURPOSE: definitive adoption of Amending budget No 4/2016.

LEGISLATIVE ACT: Definitive adoption (EU, Euratom) 2017/303 of Amending budget No 4 of the European Union for the financial year 2016.

CONTENT: the European Parliament adopted the amending budget 4/2016 of the European Union, in accordance with its resolution of 1 December 2016 (refer to the summary of the resolution).

In brief, Amending Budget No 4/2016 (DAB 4/2016) concerns the follow:

Expenditure:

  • decrease payment appropriations (p/a) by EUR 7 284.3 million mostly under sub-heading 1b, and to a lesser extent under headings 2 and 3 due to delays in the implementation of the 2014-2020 programmes;
  • decrease commitment appropriations (c/a) by EUR 14.7 million under heading 2 as a result of the latest needs assessment;
  • frontload EUR 73.9 million in c/a from Financial Instruments under CEF Energy to the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), with a corresponding compensation in 2018;
  • increase c/a by EUR 250 million and p/a by EUR 10 million under heading 3, notably for the Emergency Support Instrument within the Union, the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) and the Internal Security Fund (ISF). After taking into account a redeployment of EUR 9.9 million from the European Medicines Agency (EMA), due to the changes in the EUR/GBP exchange rate, the Commission proposes to finance the remaining additional c/a under heading 3 through a mobilisation of the Contingency Margin for an amount of EUR 240.1 million to be fully offset in the same year against the margin under heading 5;
  • frontload 50 posts for temporary agents for the year 2017 for the European Border and Coast Guard Agency replacing FRONTEX.

Revenue side: the AB includes adjustments linked to the revision of the forecast of Traditional Own Resources (i.e. customs duties and sugar sector levies), value-added tax (VAT) and gross national income (GNI) bases, and the budgeting of the relevant UK corrections and their financing, which has an impact on the distribution of Member States' contributions to the EU budget from own resources.

The net impact of AB 4/2014 on the expenditure side of the 2016 budget is an increase of EUR 225.4 million in commitment appropriations and a decrease of EUR 7 274.3 million in payment appropriations, thereby reducing the Member States' contributions for the financial year 2016 (surplus) by an equivalent amount.