What changed

MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION

P9_TA(2024)0374

on the Council position on Draft amending budget No 1/2024 of the European Union for the financial year 2024 -1/2024: Amendments of the 2024 budget required due to the MFF revision

(07432/2024 – C90048/2024 – 2024/0056(BUD))

Committee on Budgets

PE759.895

European Parliament resolution of 25 April 2024 on the Council position on Draft amending budget No 1/2024 of the European Union for the financial year 2024 Amendments of the 2024 budget required due to the MFF revision (07432/2024 – C9-0048/2024 – 2024/0056(BUD))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2024, as definitively adopted on 22 November 2023,

– having regard to Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/765 of 29 February 2024 amending Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2093 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2021 to 2027,

– having regard to Regulation (EU) 2024/792 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 February 2024 establishing the Ukraine Facility,

– having regard to Regulation (EU) 2024/795 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 February 2024 establishing the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP), and amending Directive 2003/87/EC and Regulations (EU) 2021/1058, (EU) 2021/1056, (EU) 2021/1057, (EU) No 1303/2013, (EU) No 223/2014, (EU) 2021/1060, (EU) 2021/523, (EU) 2021/695, (EU) 2021/697 and (EU) 2021/241,

– having regard to Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 2020/2093 of 17 December 2020 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2021-2027 (‘the MFF Regulation’),

– having regard to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 16 December 2020 between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission on budgetary discipline, on cooperation in budgetary matters and on sound financial management, as well as on new own resources, including a roadmap towards the introduction of new own resources,

7. Notes that, on 5 March 2024, the Commission put forward a proposal to establish a new defence programme - the European Defence Industry Programme - for the period 2025-2027, with a planned transfer of EUR 1,5 billion from the EDF, precisely the amount of the EDF reinforcement agreed under STEP; reiterates its long-standing position that new policy priorities require fresh money; insists that the additional resources assigned to the EDF for the remainder of the MFF period be used for STEP objectives as per the agreement of the co-legislators;

8. Welcomes the additional EUR 500 million for the Western Balkans, placed in reserve subject to the adoption of the proposed regulation establishing the GrowthReform and ReformGrowth Facility for the Western Balkans; points out that it does not consider the nomenclature as set out in Draft amending budget No 1/2024 to be fit for purpose and intends, with the Council, to review the nomenclature as part of the 2025 budgetary procedure in order to ensure appropriate political and budgetary scrutiny;

9. Notes that, of the total EUR 3,1 billion in reinforcements for Heading 6 between 2024 and 2027 agreed in the MFF revision, only EUR 500 million is included in Draft amending budget No 1/2024; points out, furthermore, that planned redeployments of funds within that Heading are not included; reiterates its request to the Commission to provide the budgetary authority with detailed information explaining how it intends to manage all changes to programmes and special instruments resulting from the MFF revision;

12. Notes that the 2024 allocation for the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund for Displaced Workers (EGF) is reduced to EUR 33,8 million, in accordance with the revised MFF Regulation; calls on the Commission to monitor EGF implementation and for all institutions to take any necessary measures to ensure that all justified requests for EGF support, as a manifestation of Union solidarity, can be met;

13. Takes note of the changes to the budgetary remarks to enable the Digital Europe programme to finance the costs of recruiting contractual agents for the Artificial Intelligence Office established under the recently agreed Artificial Intelligence Act; underlines that such a workaround solution is only necessary owing to insufficient resources under Heading 7 (Administration), to the Commission’s self-imposed stable staffing policy and to the Council’s refusal to address administrative spending in the MFF revision; insists that covering staffing costs for the new Office in this manner is acceptable only as a temporary fix and does not constitute a precedent, that a long-term structural solution under Heading 7 must be found beyond the current MFF and that spending under Heading 7 must be set at a level that guarantees that the EUUnion has an effective and efficient administration;

14. Recalls that, in its executability letter assessing Parliament’s and the Council’s respective readings on the 2024 budget, the Commission stated that the budget remarks should, “as a general rule, [...] reflect the legal base and should be reviewed only if necessary to reflect the changes in applicable legal bases” and “should not propose any changes and modifications to programme general and specific objectives or actions that are not explicitly mentioned in basic acts”; expects that, given the Commission’s evident flexibility in amending the remarks for the Digital Europe programme to accommodate the recruitment of external personnel unrelated to the programme’s implementation, it will apply the same degree of flexibility when assessing any changes to the budgetary remarks that Parliament or the Council may propose in the 2025 budgetary procedure;

17. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the national parliaments.

ANNEX: ENTITIES OR PERSONS FROM WHOM THE RAPPORTEUR HAS RECEIVED INPUT

Pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure, the rapporteur declares that he has received input from the following entities or persons in the preparation of the report, until the adoption thereof in committee:

The list above is drawn up under the exclusive responsibility of the rapporteur.

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