The Committee on Budgets adopted by 539 votes to 7, with 27 abstentions, a resolution on the Council position on Draft amending budget No 5/2022 of the European Union for the financial year 2022 providing additional measures to address the consequences of the Russian war in Ukraine, Union Civil Protection Mechanism reinforcement, reduction in payment appropriations and update of revenues, other adjustments and technical updates.
As a reminder, draft amending budget No 5/2022 covers updates on both the expenditure and revenue sides and includes changes for Section III (Commission) and other sections. It includes, but is not limited to, adjustments to address the consequences of the Russian war in Ukraine.
DAB No 5/2022 also includes two adjustments on the revenue side, namely an update of the estimates for Traditional Own Resources (TOR) and the estimated impact of exchange rate differences. The revenue surplus is estimated at EUR 3 billion. The net impact of draft amending budget No 5/2022 on expenditure amounts to an increase of EUR 447.5 million in commitment appropriations, and a decrease of EUR 741.1 million in payment appropriations. The overall impact on the revenue side (comprised of the revenue surplus and decrease in payments) is a net decrease in the GNI contributions of EUR 3.8 billion.
Parliament has repeatedly considered that a draft amending budget should have one purpose only.
It takes note of Draft amending budget No 5/2022 as submitted by the Commission and recalled that, due to the late adoption of the legal base for the European Defence Industry Reinforcement through common Procurement Act (EDIRPA), the Conciliation Committee on the general budget for the financial year 2023 agreed not to place any amount in commitment appropriations in the reserve for that purpose and not to create a corresponding budget line for the financial year 2022.
Given that the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) has required significant reinforcements since the start of its implementation, Parliament indicated that the proposed frontloading/backloading of UCPM will have to be reassessed based on needs, notably in the context of the upcoming MFF revision.
Although approving the Council position on Draft amending budget No 5/2022, Parliament stated that to better respect the prerogative of the budgetary authority, the Commission should present a draft amending budget for one purpose only and refrain from combining several purposes in one draft amending budget.