Proposal for a DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on the Mobilisation of the Flexibility Instrument for immediate budgetary measures under the European Agenda on Migration
Date: 2015-10-14
Institutions: Directorate-General for Budget, European Commission
Subjects: EU programme, budgetary procedure, commitment of expenditure, general budget (EU), migration, refugee

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 14.10.2015  COM(2015) 514 final   Proposal for a DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on the Mobilisation of the Flexibility Instrument for immediate budgetary measures under the European Agenda on Migration  
 
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

The Council Regulation (EU, EURATOM) No 1311/2013 of 2 December 2013 laying down 
the multiannual financial framework for the years 2014-20201 allows for the mobilisation of 
the Flexibility Instrument to allow the financing of clearly identified expenditure which could 
not  be  financed  within  the  limits  of  the  ceilings  available  for  one  or  more  headings  of  the 
multiannual financial framework. 

In  accordance  with  Article  11  of  Council  Regulation  No  1311/2013  and  point  12  of  the 
Interinstitutional  Agreement  of  2  December  2013  between  the  European  Parliament,  the 
Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline, on cooperation in budgetary matters on 
and  sound  financial  management2,  after  having  examined  all  possibilities  for  re-allocating 
appropriations and exhausted any unallocated margin under the expenditure heading Security 
and Citizenship (heading 3), the Commission proposes to mobilise the Flexibility Instrument, 
for which the ceiling on the annual amount available is EUR 471 million (2011 prices).  

This mobilisation concerns an amount of EUR 1 504,0 million beyond the ceiling of heading 
3 of the multiannual financial framework, and is intended to to finance support for measures 
for managing the refugee crisis. This includes an amount of EUR 123 966 698 for which the 
Commission had made a proposal to mobilise the Flexibility Instrument for the same purpose 
which accompanied the initial draft budget 20163, and which is now repealed and replaced by 
the present proposal. 

In accordance with Article 11(2) of Council Regulation N° 1311/2013, the amount proposed 
to be mobilised for budget year 2016 uses annual amounts not used of previous years of the 
Flexibility Instrument (2014 and 2015). 

The  payment  appropriations  corresponding  to  the  proposed  mobilisation  of  the  Flexibility 
Instrument  have  been  calculated  on  the  basis  of  the  rules  applicable  to  pre-financing, 
clearance  of  pre-financing  and  final  payments  for  the  various  types  of  measures  to  be 
financed, and are presented in the table below: 

Year 

2016 

2017 

2018 

2019 

Total 

(in million EUR, at current prices) 

Payment appropriations related to the mobilisation of the flexibility 
instrument for measures for managing the refugee crisis in 2016 

710,0 

652,9 

82,7 

58,5 

1 504,0 

1 
2 
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OJ L347, 20.12.2013, p.884. 
OJ C 373, 20.12.2013, p. 1. 
COM(2015) 238, 27.5.2015. 

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Proposal for a 

DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 

on the Mobilisation of the Flexibility Instrument for immediate budgetary measures 
under the European Agenda on Migration 

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, 

Having regard to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 2 December 2013 between the European 
Parliament,  the  Council  and  the  Commission  on  budgetary  discipline,  on  cooperation  in 
budgetary matters on and sound financial management4, and in particular the third paragraph 
of point 12 thereof, 

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission, 

Whereas,  

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

(4) 

Article 11 of Council Regulation (EU, EURATOM) No 1311/20135 has established a 
Flexibility Instrument of up to EUR 471 million (2011 prices) per year. 

Due  to  the  urgent  needs  to  manage  the  refugee  crisis,  it  is  necessary  to  mobilise 
important  additionnal  appropriations  to  finance  the  Migration  and  Home  affairs 
policy. 

After  having  examined  all  possibilities  for  re-allocating  appropriations  under  the 
expenditure ceiling Security and Citizenship (heading 3), it is appropriate to mobilise 
EUR 1 504,0 million  through  the  Flexibility  Instrument  to  finance  measures  in  the 
field  of  migration.  The  unused  annual  amounts  available  for  the  Flexibility 
Instruments of previous years (2014 and 2015) are used. 

The  payment  appropriations  corresponding  to  the  envisaged  mobilisation  of  the 
Flexibility  Instrument  should  be  distributed  over  several  budgetary  years 
(EUR 710,0 million in 2016, EUR 652,9 million in 2017, EUR 82,7 million in 2018, 
and EUR 58,5 million in 2019), 

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DECISION: 

Article 1 

(1) 

For the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2016, the 
Flexibility Instrument shall be mobilised to increase commitment appropriations by 
EUR 1 504,0 million above the expenditure ceiling of the heading Security and 
Citizenship (heading 3). 

That amount shall be used to finance measures for managing the refugee crisis. 

4 
5 

OJ C 373, 20.12.2013, p. 1. 
Council Regulation (EU, EURATOM) No 1311/2013 of 2 December 2013 laying down the multiannual 
financial framework for the years 2014-2020 (OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 884). 

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(2) 

The payment appropriations corresponding to the mobilisation of the Flexibility 
Instrument shall be as follows: 

(a)  EUR 710,0 million in 2016; 

(b)  EUR 652,9 million in 2017; 

(c)  EUR 82,7 million in 2018; 

(d)  EUR 58,5 million in 2019. 

This Decision shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union. 

Done at Brussels, 

Article 2 

For the European Parliament 
The President 

For the Council 
The President 

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