PURPOSE: presentation of Draft amending budget No 4 to
the 2019 budget: reduction of commitment and payment appropriations
in line with updated expenditure needs and updated revenue (own
resources).
CONTENT: the purpose of Draft amending budget (DAB) No
4/2019 is to update both the expenditure and revenue side of the
budget to take account of recent developments.
A. Expenditure
(1) The objective is first of all to release
commitment and payment appropriations of budget lines for headings
1a Competitiveness for growth and jobs, 1b Economic, Social and
Territorial Cohesion, 3 Security and Citizenship, 4 Global Europe
as well as the European Union solidarity fund.
The decrease in commitment and payment appropriations
concerns the following bodies and instruments:
- Financial Supervision Authorities (- EUR 18 520
000): the political agreements on
the proposals for the revision of the mandates of the European
Banking Authority (EBA), the European Insurance and Occupational
Pensions Authority (EIOPA) and the European Securities and Markets
Authority (ESMA) has resulted in a more limited extension of the
scope of the mandates, with a corresponding impact on the resources
needs, whereas the current funding model (40 / 60 share between the
EU budget and the national authorities) was retained.
- European Border and Coast Guard Agency - Frontex (-
EUR 12 121 000): political
agreement was reached in March 2019 on the gradual creation of a
standing corps of 10 000 border guards by 2027. Taking into account
the expected entry into force of the Regulation around 1 November
2019, as the formal starting point for the actual recruitment of
the standing corps of border guards, the Commission considers it
prudent to keep an amount of EUR 7. 2 million in the reserve to
cover the salary expenditure for the first recruitments of the
border guards in 2019. Consequently, the remaining amount in the
reserve can be cancelled in this DAB. .
- Recasting of the Dublin III Regulation (- EUR
7 200 000): the voted budget
2019 contained EUR 460 million in commitment appropriations as a
reserve related to the Commission proposal to recast the Dublin III
Regulation. The first tranche of EUR 370 million was released in
April 2019. In parallel with this draft amending budget, the
Commission presents a second and final transfer request covering an
amount of EUR 82.8 million. The remaining amount in the reserve can
be cancelled in this DAB.
- European Public Prosecutor's Office (- EUR
1 000 000 000): the
appointment of the Chief Prosecutor of the EPPO has taken more
time, and is currently expected to take place in the second half of
2019. This has a knock-on effect on certain other recruitments and
some of the expenditure originally planned for 2019 will occur in
2020.
- European Social Fund - Operational technical
assistance (- EUR 8 300 000): in view of the latest assessment of actual needs in
terms of commitment appropriations, EUR 8.3 million can be
cancelled without jeopardising the smooth implementation of this
technical assistance.
- Emergency Support Instrument (- EUR 120
000): the current allocation for
support expenditure in this area amounts to EUR 250 000. In line
with the revised forecast of required appropriations, EUR 120 000
may be cancelled.
- EU Civil Protection Mechanism (- EUR 35 million in
commitment appropriations and - EUR 28 560 514 in payment
appropriations): Decision (EU)
2019/420 of the European Parliament and of the Council increased
the financial envelope for the mechanism for the period 2014-2020
to EUR 574 million. In view of the late adoption of the amending
decision, the amounts in the reserve which are higher than the
allocations agreed for 2019 may be cancelled.
- EU Solidarity Fund (- EUR 29 748 635): at the end of
2018, an amount of EUR 29.7 million in commitment appropriations
for the EUSF was available, which was automatically carried over to
2019. EUR 50 million had been mobilised with the 2019 budget. It is
therefore proposed to reduce the commitment appropriations entered
in the 2019 budget by EUR 29.7 million in order to reduce the level
of commitment appropriations to the amount of EUR 50 million
provided for in the basic act and to the level of payment
appropriations.
- Adjustment of the mobilisation of the special
instruments: it is proposed to
adjust the mobilisation of the Flexibility Instrument as follows:
(i) for heading 1a, the mobilisation of the instrument is decreased
by EUR 18.5 million; (ii) for heading 3, the mobilisation of the
instrument is decreased by EUR 55.4
million.
(2) The DAB also aims to adjust the budget 2019 of
some institutions as a result of the postponement of the withdrawal
of the United Kingdom from the European Union to 31 October 2019.
The total amount of additional appropriations (commitment and
payment) is estimated at EUR 11 941 000.
The postponement until 31 October 2019 not only
affects the composition of the European Parliament and the cost for
parliamentary assistance, but also the need to keep the UK Liaison
Office, and triggered the organisation of European elections in the
United Kingdom, which required a full-fledged information campaign.
The abovementioned elements, which constitute unavoidable,
exceptional and unforeseen circumstances, require additional
supplementary appropriations of EUR 15.1 million.
The decision on the postponement of the UK withdrawal
by up to seven months has an impact on remuneration and other
expenditure for a College of 28, as opposed to 27 Members at the
Court of Auditors. In view of the tight budget requested for 2019,
the Court will not be in a position to find the additional
resources by redeployment but requests an additional allocation of
EUR 107 000 to cover salaries and other allowances as well as
mission and representation expenses.
The EEAS will therefore reduce its 2019 budget by the
running costs foreseen from the beginning of the year until 1
August for its Headquarter’s Division and its presence points
in the UK (EUR 3 276 000).
B. Revenue
It is proposed to revise the forecasts of Traditional Own Resources (i.e. customs
duties and sugar sector levies), value-added tax (VAT) and gross
national income (GNI) bases, and to budget the relevant UK
corrections and their financing, which all affect the distribution
of own resources contributions from Member States to the EU
budget.