Proposal for a DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on the mobilisation of the Flexibility Instrument to provide the financing for the European Fund for Sustainable Development
Date: 2017-07-28
Institutions: Directorate-General for Budget, European Commission
Subjects: aid to refugees, commitment of expenditure, financial year, fund (EU), general budget (EU), payment appropriation, sustainable development

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 28.7.2017  COM(2017) 480 final   Proposal for a DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on the mobilisation of the Flexibility Instrument to provide the financing for the European Fund for Sustainable Development  
 
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

Council Regulation (EU, EURATOM) No 1311/2013  of 2 December 2013 laying down the 
multiannual financial framework for the years 2014-20201 (hereafter "the MFF regulation"), 
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  the  MFF  regulation  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  and  on  sound 
financial management2, after having examined all possibilities for re-allocating appropriations 
and exhausted any unallocated margin under the expenditure heading Global Europe (heading 
4), the Commission proposes to mobilise the Flexibility Instrument in 2017 for an amount of 
EUR 275 million.  
The  availability  of  the  Flexibility  Instrument3  is  as  follows:  an  annual  amount  available  of 
EUR 600 million (2011 prices) corresponding to EUR 676 million in current prices increased 
by lapsed amounts from the European Union Solidarity Fund and the European Globalisation 
Adjustment Fund (the amount lapsing at the end of 2016 was EUR 646 million). Taking into 
account  the  mobilisation  of  EUR 530  million  in  the  context  of  the  budget  2017  to  finance 
immediate budgetary measures to address the on-going migration, refugee and security crisis4, 
the overall availability of the Flexibility Instrument in 2017 is EUR 792 million. 

This  mobilisation  concerns  an  amount  of  EUR 275 million  over  and  above  the  ceiling  of 
heading  4  of  the  multiannual  financial  framework,  and  is  intended  to  finance  the 
provisionning 2017 of the European Fund for Sustainable Development (EFSD). 

The  indicative  payment  appropriations  corresponding  to  the  proposed  mobilisation  of  the 
Flexibility Instrument are presented in the table below: 

Year 

2017 

Total 

(in million EUR, at current prices) 

Payment appropriations related to the mobilisation of the flexibility 
instrument for measures for provisioning the EFSD in 2017 

275,0 

275,0 

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2 
3 

4 

OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 884. 
OJ C 373, 20.12.2013, p. 1. 
The calculations are without prejudice to the amendment of the Communication from the Commission 
to the Council and the European Parliament, Technical adjustment of the financial framework for 2018 
for 2018 in line with movements in GNI (ESA 2010) (COM(2017)220), which should take into account 
the increase of the amounts available to the Flexibility instrument following the entry into force of the 
Regulation (EU) No 2017/1123. 
OJ L 50, 28.2.2017, p. 53. 

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Proposal for a 

DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 

on the mobilisation of the Flexibility Instrument to provide the financing for the 
European Fund for Sustainable Development 

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  management5,  and  in  particular  the  third 
subparagraph of point 12 thereof, 

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission, 

Whereas:  

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

(4) 

The  Flexibility  Instrument  is  intended  to  allow  the  financing  of  clearly  identified 
expenditure  which  could  not  be  financed  within  the  limits  of  the  ceilings  available 
for one or more other headings. 

The  ceiling  on  the  annual  amount  available  for  the  Flexibility  Instrument  is 
EUR 600 000 000  (2011  prices),  as  laid  down  in  Article  11  of  Council  Regulation 
(EU, EURATOM) No 1311/20136.  

In order to address the ongoing challenges of migration, refugee inflows and security 
threats,  it  is  necessary  to  mobilise  significant  additional  amounts  to  finance 
appropriate measures as a matter of urgency. 

Having  examined  all  possibilities  for  re-allocating  appropriations  under  the 
expenditure  ceiling  for  heading  4  (Global  Europe),  it  is  necessary  to  mobilise  the 
Flexibility Instrument to supplement the financing available in the general budget of 
the  Union  for  the  financial  year  2017,  beyond  the  ceilings  of  heading  4  by  the 
amount  of  EUR 275 000 000  to  provide  the  financing  for  the  European  Fund  for 
Sustainable  Development  (EFSD).  This  amount  includes  amounts  lapsed  in  the 
previous  years  of  the  European  Union  Solidarity  Fund  and  of  the  European 
Globalisation Adjustment Fund in accordance with Article 11(1) of Regulation (EU, 
Euratom) No 1311/2013.  

(5) 

On  the  basis  of  the  expected  payment  profile,  the  payment  appropriations 
corresponding to the mobilisation of the Flexibility Instrument should be allocated to 
2017 only, 

5 
6 

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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HAVE ADOPTED THIS DECISION: 

Article 1 

For  the  general  budget  of  the  Union  for  the  financial  year  2017,  the  Flexibility  Instrument 
shall be mobilised to  provide the amount of EUR 275 000 000 in commitment and  payment 
appropriations in heading 4 (Global Europe). 

The amount referred to in the first paragraph shall be used to provide the provisioning of the 
European Fund for Sustainable Development Guarantee fund. 

This Decision shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in 
the Official Journal of the European Union. 

Article 2 

Done at Brussels, 

For the European Parliament 
The President 

For the Council 
The President 

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