Amending budget 6/2021: additional vaccines doses to low and lower-middle income countries, UCPM reinforcement and other adjustments to expenditure and revenue

The European Parliament adopted by 623 votes to 27, with 38 abstentions, a resolution on the Council position on Draft amending budget No 6/2021 of the European Union for the financial year 2021 - Additional vaccines doses to low and lower-middle income countries, UCPM reinforcement and other adjustments to expenditure and revenue.

Parliament approved the Council's position on draft amending budget No 6/2021. It welcomed the proposal to ensure that the supplementary 200 million Covid-19 vaccine doses pledged by the President of the Commission in her State of the Union speech are funded and delivered as a matter of urgency to low and lower-middle income countries.

Parliament strongly advocated for the acceleration of the global vaccination campaign, notably during its reading on the EU budget for the 2022.

As a reminder, Draft amending budget No 6/2021 covers in particular the following elements:

- reinforcement of the Neighbourhood Development and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe for an amount of EUR 450 million in commitment and in payment appropriations in the context of the COVID-19 global health response to donate 200 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to low and lower-middle income countries by the middle of next year;

- reinforcement of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM/rescEU) for an amount of EUR 57.8 million in commitment appropriations to provide additional funding to cover new emergencies including repatriation flights from Afghanistan, the response in Haiti following the recent earthquake and outstanding operations including forest fires whose costs exceed the existing availabilities until the end of the year;

- increase of the level of commitment appropriations on the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements (SFPA) budget line for an amount of EUR 3.5 million considering the updated budget needs following the conclusion of the negotiations on the new protocols with Cook Islands and Mauritania;

- adjustment of the budgetary nomenclature following specific Member States requests to transfer resources pursuant to Article 26 of the Common Provisions Regulation (CPR);

- update of the revenue side of the budget to take account of the revised estimates of own resource based on non-recycled plastic packaging waste.