Proposal for a DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL amending Decision (EU) 2020/265 as regards adjustments to the amounts mobilised from the Flexibility Instrument for 2020 to be used for migration, refugee inflows and security threats, for immediate measures in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak and for reinforcement of the European Public Prosecutor's Office
Date: 2020-03-27
Institutions: Directorate-General for Budget, European Commission
Subjects: EU expenditure, EU financial instrument, European Public Prosecutor's Office, budget appropriation, commitment of expenditure, coronavirus disease, epidemic, general budget (EU), migratory movement, refugee

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 27.3.2020  COM(2020) 140 final 2020/0050 (BUD)  Proposal for a DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL amending Decision (EU) 2020/265 as regards adjustments to the amounts mobilised from the Flexibility Instrument for 2020 to be used for migration, refugee inflows and security threats, for immediate measures in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak and for reinforcement of the European Public Prosecutor's Office  
 
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

The  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  decided  on  27  November  2019  to  mobilise  the 
Flexibility 
for  heading  3 
for 
Security and Cititzenship as proposed by the Commission. 

amount  of  EUR 778,1 million 

instrument 

an 

The  Commission  submits  today  draft  amending  budget  (DAB)  No 1/20201  that  includes, 
amongst others, an overall increase of the level of commitment appropriations for heading 3 
of  EUR 423,3 million  to  meet  the  needs  resulting  from  the  increased  migration  pressure  in 
Greece, to finance immediate measures required in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak and 
to cover an increase of the budget for the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO). 

As  allowed  by  Article  14  of  the  Council  Regulation  (EU,  Euratom  )  No  1311/2013  of  2 
December 2013 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2014-20202, 
this  DAB  proposes  to  use  the  Global  Margin  for  Commitment  (GMC)  remaining  available 
from 2018 for the increase linked to migration (EUR 350 million). The remaining part of the 
increase, not falling under the scope of the GMC (EUR 73,3 million), requires an additional 
mobilisation of the Flexibility Instrument. 

Therefore, the present proposal accompanies DAB No 1/2020 in order to increase accordingly 
the  amounts  mobilised  from  the  Flexibility  Instrument  and  to  extend  the  purpose  of  the 
mobilisation.  

The  adjusted  mobilisation  of  the  Flexibility  Instrument  will  amount  to  EUR 851,4 million 
(from EUR 778,1 million) for heading 3. 

This  proposed  mobilisation  decision  will  amend  Decision  (EU)  2020/265  of  27  November 
20193. 

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

Year 

2020 

2021 

2022 

2023 

Total 

(in million EUR, at current prices) 

Payment appropriations related to the mobilisation of the flexibility 
instrument in 2020 

450,7 

342,2 

42,4 

16,1 

851,4 

1 
2 
3 

COM(2020) 145, 27.3.2020. 
OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 884. 
OJ L 58, 27.2.2020, p. 51. 

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2020/0050 (BUD) 

Proposal for a 

DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 

amending Decision (EU) 2020/265 as regards adjustments to the amounts mobilised 
from the Flexibility Instrument for 2020 to be used for migration, refugee inflows and 
security threats, for immediate measures in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak and 
for reinforcement of the European Public Prosecutor's Office 

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 management4, and in particular point 12 thereof, 

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission, 

Whereas: 

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

(4) 

4 
5 

6 

7 

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 of the general budget of the Union. 

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 1311/20135, increased, where applicable, by lapsed amounts made 
available in accordance with the second subparagraph of paragraph 1 of that Article.  

On  27  November  2019  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  adopted  Decision 
(EU)  2020/2656  mobilising  the  Flexibility  Instrument  to  provide  the  amount  of 
EUR 778 074 489  in  commitment  appropriations  in  heading  3  (Security  and 
citizenship) for the financial year 2020 to finance measures in the field of migration, 
refugees and security. 
The  draft  amending  budget  No 1/20207  includes  an  increase  of  the  commitment 
appropriations  for heading 3 by  EUR 423,3 million. Of those, EUR 350,0 million  for 
additional expenditure to cope with migration pressures in Greece are covered by the 
use  of  the  Global  Margin  for  Commitments  laid  down  in  Article  14  of  Council 
Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1311/2013. The remaining amount of EUR 73,3 million 
is  not  covered  by  the  scope  of  the  Global  Margen  for  Commitments  and  therefore 
requires  additional  mobilisation  of  the  Flexibility  Instrument  for  2020.  It  is  also 
necessary to adjust the indicative payment profile.  

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). 
Decision (EU) 2020/265 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 on the 
mobilisation  of  the  Flexibility  Instrument  to  finance  immediate  budgetary  measures  to  address  the 
ongoing challenges of migration, refugee inflows and security threats (OJ L 058 27.02.2020, p. 51) 
COM(2020) 145, 27.3.2020. 

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(5) 

(6) 

Decision (EU) 2020/265 should therefore be amended accordingly. 

This mobilisation of the Flexibility Instrument should be adopted simultaneously with 
the  amendment  of  the  2020  budget  as  the  mobilisation  of  the  Flexibility  Instrument 
allows financing of some actions over and above a ceiling in the Multiannual Financial 
Framework.  In  order  to  ensure  coherence  with  that  amendment  of  the  2020  budget, 
this Decision should enter into force on the day of its publication. 

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DECISION:  

In Decision (EU) 2020/265, Article 1 is modified as follows: 

Article 1 

in 

the 

first  subparagraph,  “EUR 778 074 489” 

In  Paragraph  1, 
replaced  by 
“EUR 851 374 489” and the second subparagraph is replaced by the following: “The amounts 
referred to in the first subparagraph shall be used to finance measures to address the ongoing 
challenges  of  migration,  refugee  inflows  and  security  threats  as  well  as  the  current  sanitary 
crisis in the European Union resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak and increased needs of 
the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.” 

is 

In paragraph 2, points (a) and (b) of the first subparagraph are replaced by the following: 

“(a) 

EUR 450 702 108 in 2020; 

(b) 

EUR 342 205 134 in 2021;” 

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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