Proposal for a DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on the mobilisation of the Contingency Margin in 2016
Date: 2016-09-30
Institutions: Directorate-General for Budget, European Commission
Subjects: EU expenditure, EU financial instrument, aid to refugees, budgetary procedure, commitment of expenditure, financial management, general budget (EU)

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 30.9.2016  COM(2016) 624 final   Proposal for a DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on the mobilisation of the Contingency Margin in 2016  
 
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

1. 

CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL 

The Council Regulation (EU, EURATOM) No 1311/2013 of 2 December 2013 laying down 
the multiannual financial framework for the years 2014-20201 (‘MFF Regulation’) allows for 
the mobilisation of the Contingency Margin of up to 0,03 % of Gross National Income for the 
EU-28  to  react  to  unforeseen  circumstances  as  a  last  resort  instrument.  In  the  technical 
adjustment  of  the  MFF  for  20162,  based  on  Article  6  of  the  MFF  Regulation,  the  absolute 
amount of the Contingency Margin for the year 2016 is set at EUR 4 438,2 million. 

In  accordance  with  Article  13  of  the  MFF  Regulation,  and  after  having  examined  all 
possibilities  for  financing  additional  and  unforeseen  commitment  needs,  the  Commission 
proposes to mobilise the Contingency Margin for 2016 for an amount of EUR 240,1 million 
so  as  to  complement  the  commitment  appropriations  related  to  expenditure  in  heading  3 
Security  and  citizenship  in  the  general  budget  of  the  European  Union  for  the  financial  year 
2016, over and above the commitment ceilings of EUR 2 546 million in current prices. 

In accordance with point 14 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 and on sound financial management3, the Commission has 
carried out an analysis of the possibility to reallocate significant amounts within the existing 
budget. 

In accordance with Article 13(3) of the MFF Regulation the Commission proposes to offset 
the  reinforcement  of  the  expenditure  ceilings  of  heading  3  against  the  unallocated  margin 
available under the expenditure ceilings of heading 5 Administration in 2016. 

This  proposal  complements  the  decision  (EU)  2016/253  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of 
the Council of 25 November 2015 to mobilise in full the amount of the Flexibility Instrument4 
available for 2017 (EUR 520 million), 2016 (EUR 510 million) and 2015 (EUR 500 million) 
in order to cover the cost of immediate budgetary mesures to address the refugee crisis. 

2. 

JUSTIFICATION OF THE MOBILISATION 

2.1. 

INTRODUCTION  

The  internal  dimension  of  the  migration,  refugee  and  security  crisis  is  financed  from 
heading 3 through the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF), the Internal Security 
Fund  (ISF)  as  well  as  through  specialised  agencies  such  as  Frontex,  EASO,  eu-Lisa  and 
Europol.  In  addition,  a  new  instrument  was  adopted  by  the  Council  on  15  March  20165  to 
allow  the  provision  of  emergency  support  of  a  humanitarian  nature  in  response  to  the 
increased influx of refugees and migrants into the Union. 
As  set  out  in  the  related  Commission  proposal6,  the  funding  needs  for  this  new  emergency 
instrument  in  2016  were  estimated  at  EUR 300 million  in  commitment  appropriations  and 
EUR 241 million in payment appropriations7. EUR 199 million in commitment appropriations 
and EUR 130,2 million in payment appropriations have been redeployded from AMIF, first in 

OJ L347, 20.12.2013, p.884. 

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2  COM(2015) 320, 22.5.2015. 
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4 
5 
6 
7 

OJ C 373, 20.12.2013, p. 1. 
OJ L 47, 24.2.2016, p. 6. 
OJ L 70, 16.3.2016, p. 1. 
COM(2016) 115, 2.3.2016. 
80% of prefinancing. 

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the context of the amending budget No 1/2016 adopted on 13 April 20168 (EUR 100 million 
in  commitment  appropriations  and  EUR 80,2 million  in  payment  appropriations)  and  then, 
through a Commission transfer of appropriations implemented in August in accordance with 
Article  26(1)(c)  of  the  Financial  Regulation  (EUR 99 million  in  commitment  appropriations 
and EUR 50  million in payment appropriations).  

in  commitment  appropriations  and  EUR 10 million 

Likely  outstanding  needs  related  to  the  new  emergency  instrument,  currently  estimated  at 
EUR 50 million 
in  payment 
appropriations,  has  still  to  be  financed  in  2016.  Moreover,  the  latest  reassessment  of  the 
AMIF  needs  by  the  end  of  the  year  requires  that  the  abovementioned  redeployments  be 
partially  offset  by  fresh  appropriations  for  an  amount  of  EUR 130 million  in  commitment 
only.  This  partial  replenishment  of  AMIF  is  combined  with  a  reinforcement  of  the  Borders 
strand  of  the  Internal  Security  Fund  (ISF-Borders)  by  EUR 70 million  in  commitment 
appropriations, in order to respond to Bulgaria's recent request for emergency assistance. This 
takes  account  of  the  fact  that  the  ISF  emergency  assistance  currently  available  in  the  2016 
budget has been almost fully used. 

After  taking  account  of  the  possible  redeployments  identified  on  other  budget  lines  under 
heading  3  (EUR 9,9 million),  the  Commission  has  requested  to  increase  commitment 
appropriations by EUR 240,1 million above the ceiling of this heading in the draft amending 
budget No 4/20169. 

The expenditure ceiling of heading 3 in 2016 stands at EUR 2 546 million in current prices. 
The  commitment  appropriations  authorised  for  heading  3  in  the  2016  budget  are 
EUR 4 052 million, which has already required the mobilisation of the Flexibility Instrument 
(EUR 1 506 million)  over  and  above  the  ceiling  of  heading  3,  in  accordance  with  Article 
11(2) of the MFF Regulation. 

Spending  related  to  migration,  refugees  and  security  represents  more  than  70 %  of  total 
expenditure  under  the  ceiling  of  heading  3.  The  Commission  has  carefully  examined  all 
possibilities  for  redeployment.  However,  given  the  limited  room  for  manoeuvre  under  this 
heading,  it  is  only  possible  to  cover  a  small  percentage  of  the  needs  in  commitment 
appropriations  as  described  above  without  jeopardising  the  proper  functionning  of  the  other 
relatively smaller programmes. 

As a consequence, the mobilisation of the Contingency Margin is the only possible recourse 
to meet the budgetary needs in commitment appropriations. Availability of margins in other 
headings allows this mobilisation to be completely offset in 2016.  

The  needs  in  payment  appropriations  will  be  accommodated  within  the  2016  ceiling  for 
payments, thus making the mobilisation of the Contingency Margin in payments unnecessary. 

2.2. 

THE CONTINGENCY MARGIN AS THE LAST RESORT INSTRUMENT 

Article  13(1)  of  the  MFF  Regulation  defines  the  Contingency  Margin  as  a  last  resort 
instrument  to  react  to  unforeseen  circumstances.  In  the  2016  Budget,  given  the  absence  of 
unallocated  margin  under  the  commitment  ceiling  of  heading  3,  the  Commission  has 
examined all possibilities for redeployment within the heading.  

the 

full  mobilisation  of 

Given 
the  2016  Budget 
(EUR 1 530 million), the mobilisation of EUR 240,1 million through the Contingency Margin 
for 2016 is therefore the only available instrument to address the gap between the level of the 
expenditure ceiling of heading 3 and the additional unforeseen needs estimated for 2016.  

instrument 

flexibility 

the 

in 

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9 

OJ L 143, 31.5.2016. 
COM(2016) 623, 30.9.2016. 

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2.3. 

BUDGETARY IMPACT OF UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES IN 2016 

Although  the  migration,  refugee  and  security  crisis  began  in  2015,  its  impact  and 
consequences  are  still  evolving  on  a  day-to-day  basis.  Political  decisions  in  third  countries 
about  the  acceptance  of  refugees  on  their  territory  and  the  opening  and  closure  of  borders 
made  it  very  hard  to  foresee  the  short-  and  long-term  evolution  in  this  field.  The  changing 
character and unpredictability of the crisis justifies the use of the Contingency Margin as the 
last  resort  tool  for  addressing  the  unforeseen  consequences  of  the  migration,  refugee  and 
security crisis on the expenditure needs in heading 3. 

3. 

OFFSETTING  THE  CONTINGENCY  MARGIN  AGAINST  THE  MFF 
CEILINGS  

Article  13(3)  of  the  MFF  Regulation  requires  that  amounts  made  available  through  the 
mobilisation  of  the  Contingency  Margin  shall  be  fully  offset  against  the  margins  for  the 
current or future financial years. 

According  to  Article  13(4)  of  the  MFF  Regulation,  the  amounts  offset  shall  not  be  further 
mobilised  in  the  context  of  the  MFF  so  that  the  total  ceilings  of  commitment  and  payment 
appropriations  laid  down  in  the  MFF  for  the  current  and  future  financial  years  shall  not  be 
exceeded.  Consequently,  the  mobilisation  of  the  Contingency  Margin  for  commitment 
appropriations  in  2016  under  heading  3  and  the  related  offsetting  have  to  respect  the  total 
commitment ceiling for the years 2017 to 2020.  

As  sufficient  margin  is  available  under  the  2016  expenditure  ceiling  of  heading  5,  the 
Commission proposes to make the offsetting fully in 2016 in order not to prejudge the needs 
in commitment appropriations of the years 2017-2020. The amount offset in heading 5 will be 
EUR 240,1 million, leaving a margin of EUR 291,9 million in 2016. The overall commitment 
ceiling for 2016 and for the whole MFF will remain unchanged. 

4. 

ADDITIONAL ELEMENTS  

The European Parliament and the Council are reminded that the publication of this Decision 
in the Official Journal of the European Union shall not intervene later than the publication of 
the draft amending budget No 4/2016, in accordance with the last sentence of article 13(1) of 
the MFF Regulation. 

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Proposal for a 

DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 

on the mobilisation of the Contingency Margin in 2016 

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  and  on  sound  financial  management1,  and  in  particular  the  second 
subparagraph of point 14, thereof, 

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission, 

Whereas,  
(1) Article 13 of Council Regulation No 1311/20132 has established a Contingency Margin of 
up to 0,03 % of the Gross National Income of the Union,  

(2)  In  accordance  with  Article  6  of  this  Regulation,  the  Commission  has  calculated  the 
absolute amount of this Contingency Margin for 20163, 

(3) After having examined all other financial possibilities to react to unforeseen circumstances 
within the 2016 expenditure ceilings for heading 3 Security and citizenship, and after having 
proposed  to  mobilise  the  Flexibility  Instrument  for  headings  3  and  4  for  the  full  amount  of 
EUR 1 530 million  available  in  2016,  the  mobilisation  of  the  Contingency  Margin  is 
necessary  to  address  the  needs  stemming  from  the  migration,  refugee  and  security  crisis  by 
increasing the commitment appropriations of heading 3 in the general budget of the European 
Union for the financial year 2016, above the ceiling of this heading, 

(4) Having regard to this very particular situation, the last-resort condition in Article 13(1) of 
Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1311/2013 is fullfilled, 

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DECISION: 

For the general budget of the Union for the financial year 2016, the Contingency Margin shall 
be mobilised to provide EUR 240,1 million in commitment appropriations over and above the 
commitment ceiling of heading 3 of the multiannual financial framework. 

Article 1 

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OJ C 373, 20.12.2013, p. 1. 
Council  Regulation  (EU,  Euratom)  N°  1311/2013  of  2  December  2013  laying  down  the  multianual 
financial framework for the years 2014-2020 (OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 884). 
Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament of 22 May 2015 on 
the  technical  adjustment  of  the  financial  framework  for  2016  in  line  with  movements  in  GNI 
(COM(2015) 320, 22.5.2015). 

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The  EUR 240,1 million  in  commitments  appropriations  mobilised  through  the  Contingency 
Margin  for  the  financial  year  2016  shall  be  fully  offset  against  the  margin  of  heading  5 
Administration. 

Article 2 

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

Done at Brussels, 

Article 3 

For the European Parliament 
The President 

For the Council 
The President 

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