Proposal for a DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL amending Decision EU 2017/344 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2016 on the mobilisation of the Contingency margin in 2017
Date: 2017-11-22
Institutions: Directorate-General for Budget, European Commission
Subjects: EU expenditure, EU financial instrument, aid to refugees, budgetary procedure, commitment of expenditure, general budget (EU), payment appropriation

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 22.11.2017  COM(2017) 900 final  Proposal for a DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL amending Decision EU 2017/344 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2016 on the mobilisation of the Contingency margin in 2017  
 
 
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

1. 

CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL 

The  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  decided  on  14  December  2016  to  mobilise  the 
Contingency margin in 2017 to address the needs stemming from the migration, refugee and 
security crisis, by increasing the commitment appropriations in the general budget of the EU 
for 2017 over and above the ceilings of Heading 3 (EUR 1 167 million) and Heading 4 (EUR 
730 million).  

The  decision  also  specifies  the  offsetting  of  the  amount  mobilised  in  years  2017,  2018  and 
2019. Given the need to increase flexibility in the 2018 budget, the Commission proposes to 
amend  the  2017  mobilisation  decision  and  to  adjust  the  offsetting  profile  to  decrease  the 
amount  offset  in  Heading  5  in  2018  from  EUR  570  million  to  EUR  318  million  and 
correspondingly introduce offsetting of EUR 252 million in Heading 5 in 2020. This does not 
change the overall amount mobilised and offset. 

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Proposal for a 

DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 

amending Decision EU 2017/344 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 
December 2016 on the mobilisation of the Contingency margin in 2017 

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  point  14,  second 
subparagraph, thereof, 

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission, 

Whereas: 

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

(4) 

Article  13  of  Council  Regulation  1311/2013  laying  down  the  multiannual  financial 
framework  for  the  years  2014-20202  has  established  a  Contingency  Margin  of  up  to 
0,03 % of the Gross National Income of the Union. 

In  accordance  with  Article  6  of  this  Regulation,  the  Commission  had  calculated  the 
absolute amount of this Contingency Margin for 20173. 

The European Parliament and the Council mobilised the Contingency margin in 2017 
to  allow  financing above  the  commitment  ceilings  of  EUR  1  906  150 960,  of  which 
EUR 1 176 030 960 for heading 3 (Security and citizenship). 

The 2018 budget requires an increase in the flexibility and therefore the offsetting of 
the contingency margin mobilised in 2017 is adjusted to decrease the amount offset in 
Heading 5 in 2018 and to introduce a corresponding offset in Heading 5 in 2020.  

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DECISION:  

Article 1 

Article 2 of Decision (EU) 2017/344 of the EP and of the Council of 14 December 2016 on 
the mobilisation of the Contingency margin in 2017 is amended as follows: 

(a) 

(b) 

In the first paragraph "2019" is replaced by "2020". 

paragraph b) is replaced by the following: 

"(b) 2018: heading 5 (Administration): EUR 318 000 000;" 

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3 

OJ C 373, 20.12.2013, p. 1. 
OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 884. 
Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament of 30 June 2016 on 
the  technical  adjustment  of  the  financial  framework  for  2017  in  line  with  movements  in  GNI 
(COM(2016) 311). 

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(c) 

the following paragraph (d) is added: 

"(d) 2020: heading 5 (Administration): EUR 252 000 000." 

Article 2 

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

Done at Brussels, 

For the European Parliament 
The President 

For the Council 
The President 

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