What changed

MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION

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

(00000/2024(07432/2024 – C90048/2024 – 2024/0056(BUD))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to Draft amending budget No 1/2024, which the Commission adopted on 29 February 2024 (COM(2024)0080),

– having regard to the position on Draft amending budget No 1/2024, which the Council adopted on [XX]19 March 2024 and forwarded to Parliament on [XX]21 (00000/2024March 2024 (07432/2024 – C9-0048/2024),

– having regard to Rules 94 and 96 of its Rules of Procedure,

– having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets (A9-0000/2024).(A9-0174/2024).

A. whereas, in a joint statement annexed to the agreement on the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2024, Parliament and the Council invited the Commission to propose an amending budget as soon as the revision of the MFF Regulation was agreed with a view to bringing the 2024 budget into line with a revised MFF Regulation and, for their part, undertook to consider the draft amending budget without undue delay, taking into account the urgency of the matter;

2. Stresses that, with the adoption of Draft amending budget No 1/2024, the 2024 Union budget will be more fit for purpose, more flexible and better equipped to meet the challenges the Union faces;

3. Welcomes the proposal to mobilise EUR 4,8 billion from the newly created Ukraine Reserve to enable the payment of grants to Ukraine; recalls that the payment of loans does not require an amending budget and therefore that the Union is already providing support to the Ukrainian government so that it can maintain essential services; stresses that grant- and loan-based financial support through the Ukraine Facility will help to keep the state and essential services functioning, while supporting Ukraine on its path to reconstruction, recovery, reform and membership of the Union;

4. Underlines that the budget nomenclature for the Ukraine Facility, introduced through Draft amending budget No 1/2024, will help to ensure that the budgetary authority can exercise proper scrutiny over spending; welcomes the inclusion in the Facility of interest rate subsidy payments for Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA) provided to Ukraine in 2022, which will reduce pressure in Heading 6 (Neighbourhood and the World), in particular in the Neighbourhood Development and International Cooperation Instrument - Global Europe cushion;

6. Welcomes the EUR 376 million reinforcement for the European Defence Fund (EDF) in 2024, resulting from the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) Regulation; notes that, in contrast to the legislative financial statement annexed to the STEP proposal, the Commission now considers that no additional payment appropriations are required in 2024; calls on the Commission to monitor payment needs carefully;

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;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 Growth and Reform Facility for the Western Balkans; emphasises that the inclusion in Draft amending budget No 1/2024 of the amounts and proposed nomenclature for that Facility does not prejudge the work of the co-legislators; points out, in that regard,out that it does not consider the nomenclature as set out in Draft amending budget No 1/2024 to be fit for purpose and intendsintends, towith ensurethe greaterCouncil, granularityto andreview thereforethe betternomenclature oversightas forpart of the 2025 budgetary authority;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;

10. Welcomes the fact that the Union will be better able to respond to crises as a result of the increased financing for natural disasters and other emergencies included in Draft amending budget No 1/2024; notes that Draft amending budget No 1/2024 creates new lines in accordance with the decision to split the Solidarity and Emergency Aid Reserve into two parts - the European Solidarity Reserve for natural disasters and public health emergencies within the Union and in accession countries and the Emergency Aid Reserve for rapid response to emergencies inside and outside the Union; considers that the new architecture will make the funds easier to manage;manage and recalls the importance of swift treatment of applications under the European Union Solidarity Fund and timely mobilisation of the two reserves to ensure rapid disbursement of funds;

11. ExpectsRecalls that humanitarian aid for Ukraine is not covered by the Ukraine Facility and fully expects needs globally to remain high and likely further increase in 2024;2024 in a context where Humanitarian Aid is under-budgeted; taking into account budgetary implementation in recent years, calls on the Commission to monitor thosehumanitarian aid needs closely and to propose any necessary measures to the budgetary authority in good time; recalls, in that regard, that the Flexibility Instrument has been reinforced by around EUR 500 million for 2024 as part of 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 supportsupport, 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) and(Administration), to the Commission’s self-imposed stable staffing policy;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;MFF and that spending under Heading 7 must be set at a level that guarantees that the EU 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 athe differentsame yardstickdegree of flexibility when assessing any changes to the budgetary remarks that Parliament or the Council may propose in the 2025 budgetary procedure;

15. Underlines the need for additional resources for the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (the ‘EPPO’) given Poland’s planned accession in 2024 and the future accession of Sweden and in the context of accelerated implementation of NextGenerationEU funding; regrets that those additional resources were not included in Draft amending budget No 1/2024; calls on the Commission to include reinforcements for the EPPO budget in the next draft amending budget to ensure the EPPO can deliver fully on its mandate;

15. Approves the Council position on Draft amending budget No 1/2024;

16. Approves the Council position on Draft amending budget No 1/2024;

16. Instructs its President to declare that Amending budget No 1/2024 has been definitively adopted and arrange for its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union;

17. Instructs its President to declare that Amending budget No 1/2024 has been definitively adopted and arrange for its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union;

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

18. 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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