The Committee on Budgets adopted the report by John HOWARTH (S&D, UK) on the proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Decision (EU) 2019/276 as regards adjustments to the amounts mobilised from the Flexibility Instrument for 2019 to be used for migration, refugee inflows and security threats.
As a reminder, on 12 December 2018, the European Parliament and the Council decided to mobilise the flexibility instrument for the financial year 2019 for an amount of EUR 1 164 million:
- EUR 179 million for heading 1a (Competitiveness for Growth and Jobs) to reinforce key competitiveness programmes (namely Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+);
- EUR 985.6 million for heading 3 as proposed by the Commission.
The Commission has proposed draft amending budget No 4/2019 that includes reductions in the level of commitment appropriations for both heading 1a and 3 and therefore reduces the need for the use of the flexibility instrument in 2019.
The Commission therefore proposed to adjust accordingly the amounts mobilised from the flexibility instrument at EUR 1 090 million, of which EUR 160 million for heading 1a and EUR 930 million for heading 3.
The proposed mobilisation decision amends Decision (EU) 2019/276.
The committee considered that as a result of Parliament position on draft amending budget No 4/2019, the proposed adjustments have become void. It therefore recommended that the European Parliament reject the Commission's proposal.