DRAFT AMENDING BUDGET No 1 TO THE GENERAL BUDGET 2016 New instrument to provide emergency support within the Union
Date: 2016-03-09
Institutions: Directorate-General for Budget, European Commission
Subjects: EU expenditure, Europol, aid to refugees, amending budget, draft budget (EU), financial year, general budget (EU)

EN 

   EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 9.3.2016 COM(2016) 152 final   DRAFT AMENDING BUDGET No 1 TO THE GENERAL BUDGET 2016 New instrument to provide emergency support within the Union  
 
 
Having regard to: 

– 

– 

– 

the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular  Article 314 
thereof,  in  conjunction  with  the  Treaty  establishing  the  European  Atomic  Energy 
Community, and in particular Article 106a thereof, 

the  Regulation  (EU,  Euratom)  No  966/2012  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council  of  25  October  2012  on  the  Financial  Regulation  applicable  to  the  general 
budget of the Union1, and in particular Article 41 thereof, 

the  general  budget  of  the  European  Union  for  the  financial  year  2016  adopted  on 
25 November 20152, 

The European Commission hereby presents to the European Parliament and to the Council the 
Draft Amending Budget No 1 to the 2016 budget. 

CHANGES  TO  THE  STATEMENT  OF  REVENUE  AND  EXPENDITURE  BY 
SECTION 

The  changes  to  the  statement  of  revenue  and  expenditure  by  section  are  available  on  EUR-
Lex (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/budget/www/index-en.htm). An English version of the changes 
to this statement is attached for information as a budgetary annex. 

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2 

OJ L 298, 26.10.2012, p. 1. 
OJ L 48, 24.2.2016, p. 1. 

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TABLE OF CONTENT 

1. 

2. 

INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 4 

PROVIDING EMERGENCY SUPPORT WITHIN THE UNION ......................................................... 4 

3.  REINFORCING THE STAFFING LEVELS OF EUROPOL'S EUROPEAN COUNTER-
TERRORISM CENTRE ...................................................................................................................................... 5 

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1. 

INTRODUCTION 

The purpose of Draft Amending Budget (DAB) No 1 for the year 2016 is twofold: 

–  To  create  the  budget  structure  for  the  proposed  new  instrument  to  provide  emergency  support 
within  the  Union,  and  to  make  an  amount  of  EUR  100  million  in  commitment  appropriations 
available  for  immediate  funding  needs.  At  this  early  stage  of  the  year  no  alternative  source  of 
redeployment of commitment appropriations can easily be identified within heading 3. Therefore, 
the  Commission  proposes  to  finance  the  appropriations  for  the  new  instrument  requested  in  this 
draft  amending  budget  through  an  adjustment  of  the  funding  currently  available  for  the  Asylum, 
Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF). The amount proposed to be transferred from AMIF takes 
into  account  the  immediate  funding  needs  of  the  new  instrument    as  well  as  the  current  state  of 
implementation and the foreseeable needs of AMIF in the coming  months. The Commission will 
carefully  monitor  the  implementation  of  the  2016  budget  and  may  propose  transfers  and/or  an 
amending  budget  to  secure  the  necessary  funding  for  both  AMIF  and  the  emergency  support 
instrument at the appropriate time. This will take account of the evolving needs assessment for the 
year as a whole. 

–  To reinforce the staffing levels of the European Counter-Terrorism Centre in EUROPOL, to enable 
the agency to play a central role in the fight against terrorism in the EU, in particular in the light of 
the terrorist attacks in Paris of 13 November 2015. The related funding for the remuneration of new 
staff  (25  additional  establishment  plan  posts,  5  contract  agents  and  5  seconded  national  experts) 
amounts to EUR 2,0 million, and is proposed to be redeployed from the Police Union actions under 
the Internal Security Fund (ISF). 

Overall, this DAB has no net impact on the level of appropriations in the 2016 budget. 

2. 

PROVIDING EMERGENCY SUPPORT WITHIN THE UNION 

The massive influx of refugees and migrants into Europe has created an  exceptional situation where 
large  numbers  of  people  require  urgent  humanitarian  assistance,  going  beyond  the  organisational 
capacity of one or several Member States. The Commission proposes to create an instrument3 that will 
allow  the  Union  to  provide  financial  support,  for  instance  through  partner  organisations  capable  of 
rapidly implementing emergency actions in support of those Member States which are most affected. 

The  new  instrument  will  be  funded  under  heading  3  'Security  and  Citizenship'  of  the  multiannual 
financial framework (MFF), in the policy area 'Migration and home affairs' (Title 18). It is proposed to 
create  a  new  budget  chapter  18  07  and  two  new  budget  lines:  budget  article  18  07  01  for  the 
implementation of the operational measures and the administrative support expenditure item 18 01 04 
05. 

As set out in the proposal for a Council Regulation, the funding needs for the new instrument in 2016 
are estimated at EUR 300 million in commitment appropriations. In the same way as for humanitarian 
assistance  outside  the  Union,  a  pre-financing  rate  of  80  %  will  apply  to  commitments  in  order  to 
provide the cash-flow required to immediately start the support actions. The outstanding balance of 20 
% will be paid in 2017. Of the overall amount for commitment appropriations, 1 % is proposed to be 
used to finance administrative support expenditure directly related to the implementation. 

With  this  draft  amending  budget,  the  Commission  proposes  to  make  a  first  tranche  of  EUR  100 
million  in  commitment  appropriations  available  to  cover  the  immediate  funding  needs  of  the 
instrument,  awaiting  a  further  needs  assessment  for  the  year  as  a  whole.  The  Commission  will  use 
bridging  measures  to  address  the  immediate  needs  until  the  new  instrument  and  the  proposed 
amending budget enter into effect.  

3  

COM(2016) 115, 2.3.2016. 

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In  the  authorised  budget  2016,  no  margin  in  commitment  appropriations  is  available  under  the 
expenditure  ceiling  of  heading  3,  whereas  all  available  tranches  of  the  Flexibility  Instrument  have 
been used. Any net increase of commitment appropriations in this heading would therefore require a 
mobilisation of the Contingency Margin for commitments. Given that the MFF Regulation defines the 
Contingency Margin as a last resort instrument, the Commission considers such a request premature.  

As  a  consequence,  the  Commission  proposes  to  finance  EUR  100  million  of  the  appropriations 
requested for the new instrument through an adjustment of the funding currently available for AMIF, 
taking  into  account  the  current  state  of  implementation  and  the  foreseeable  needs  of  AMIF  in  the 
coming  months.  At  this  early  stage  of  the  year,  no  alternative  appropriations  are  available  for 
redeployment in heading 3, whereas an important share of the appropriations for AMIF are scheduled 
to be committed only later on in the year. Taking into account the urgency to fund the new instrument 
for emergency support, it is proposed to use EUR 100 million of these appropriations and to reassess 
the AMIF needs in the course of the year. If necessary, appropriations will be transferred from other 
budget lines and/or proposed to be made available through a new draft amending budget.  

The table below shows the proposed changes in heading 3: 

Budget line 

Name 

18 03 01 01  Strengthening  and  developing  the  Common  European  Asylum 
System  and  enhancing  solidarity  and  responsibility  sharing 
between the Member States 

Commitment 
appropriations 

Payment 
appropriations 

-100 000 000 

-80 200 000 

18 07 01 

Emergency support within the Union 

18 01 04 05  Support expenditure for Emergency support within the Union 

99 000 000 

1 000 000 

79 200 000 

1 000 000 

3. 

REINFORCING  THE  STAFFING  LEVELS  OF  EUROPOL'S  EUROPEAN  COUNTER-TERRORISM 
CENTRE 

In  2015  it  proved  necessary  for  the  EU  substantially  to  reinforce  the  staffing  levels  of  EUROPOL 
(along with FRONTEX and EASO) in response to the refugee crisis. In the case of EUROPOL, the 33 
additional posts authorised in the 2015 and 2016 budgets for this purpose were requested in order to 
disrupt  trafficking  networks  as  well  as  to  strengthen  further  the  efforts  to  detect  and  request  the 
removal  of  internet  content  used  by  traffickers  to  attract  migrants  and  refugees.  The  agency  has 
proceeded swiftly with the recruitment of the additional staff: when including recruitment offers sent 
to  successful  candidates,  all  positions  in  EUROPOL's  authorised  establishment  plan  for  2016  (480 
posts) were filled at the end of January 2016.  

The  Conciliation  Committee  reached  agreement  on  the  2016  budget  (including  the  response  to  the 
refugee crisis as proposed in amending letter 2/2016) on the evening of 13 November 2015, when the 
terrorist  attacks  in  Paris  were  unfolding.  The  European  Counter  Terrorism  Centre  (ECTC)  was 
established in EUROPOL on 1 January 2016. The ECTC is expected to be the central hub in the fight 
against terrorism in the EU, contributing to a coordinated reaction against the ongoing and anticipated 
terrorist  threat  and  attacks.  The  Centre  will  support  Member  States  by  providing  operational  and 
analytical  support  for investigations into terrorist activities as  well as  cooperation with  international 
partners.  

In  the  wake  of  the  latest  terrorist  attacks,  the  level  of  information  submitted  to  EUROPOL  and 
requests for support from Member States has increased steeply, which creates a significant additional 
workload  in  the  agency.  Ahead  of  the  creation  of  the  ECTC,  EUROPOL  had  already  made  a 
significant  redeployment  effort  so  as  to  allocate  37  temporary  agents,  2  contract  agents  and  5 
seconded  national  experts  to  counter-terrorist  activities.  However,  the  agency  will  need  a  further 
reinforcement  of  resources  in  order  to  deliver  fully  on  its  key  role  in  the  fight  against  terrorism  at 
Union level. This is why the Commission requests 25 additional establishment plan posts, 5 contract 
agents and 5 seconded national experts, of which 20 temporary agents and 5 seconded national experts 
to reinforce operations and 5 temporary agents and 5 contract agents for ICT support.  

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The  related  additional  appropriations  for  the  remuneration  of  new  staff  (EUR 2,0 million)  has  been 
calculated on the basis of an average of six months' presence in 2016. The funding is proposed to be 
redeployed from budget item 18 02 01 02 'Prevention and fight against cross-border organised crime 
and  better  management  of  security  related  risks  and  crisis',  for  which  some  procurement  actions 
originally  planned  for  the  2016  work  programme  could  be  tendered  using  appropriations  under  the 
2015 work programme.  

Budget line 

Name 

Commitment 
appropriations 

Payment 
appropriations 

18 02 01 02  Prevention  and  fight  against  cross-border  organised  crime  and 

-2 000 000 

-2 000 000 

better management of security related risks and crisis 

18 02 04 

European Police Office (Europol) 

2 000 000 

2 000 000 

EUROPOL's revised establishment plan for 2016 is set out in the budgetary annex. 

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