Proposal for a DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on the mobilisation of the Contingency Margin in 2020 to continue humanitarian support to refugees in Turkey
Date: 2020-06-03
Institutions: Directorate-General for Budget, European Commission
Subjects: EU financial instrument, Türkiye, aid to refugees, commitment of expenditure, financial year, general budget (EU), multiannual financial framework

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 3.6.2020  COM(2020) 422 final  Proposal for a DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on the mobilisation of the Contingency Margin in 2020 to continue humanitarian support to refugees in Turkey  
 
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

1. 

CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL 

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  20202,  based  on  Article  6  of  the  MFF  Regulation,  the  absolute 
amount of the Contingency Margin for the year 2020 is set at EUR 5 096,8 million. 
The  Commission  submits  today  Draft  Amending  Budget  (DAB)  No 5/20203  to  continue 
providing support to refugees and host communities in response to the Syria crisis in Jordan, 
Lebanon  and  Turkey.  Under  heading  4 (Global  Europe),  the  Commission  proposes  in  this 
DAB  to  allocate,  in  commitment  appropriations,  EUR 100 million  as  resilience  support  to 
refugees  and  host  communities  in  Jordan  and  Lebanon  and  EUR 485 million  to  ensure  the 
continuation of the urgent humanitarian support to refugees in Turkey. 

After having carried out a detailed analysis of the possibility to reallocate significant amounts 
within  heading  4 (Global  Europe),  the  Commission  concluded  that  there  is  no  room  for 
redeployments  in  2020.  The  unallocated  margin  still  available  under  this  heading 
in  commitment 
(EUR 103,4 million) 
appropriations  to  support  for  resilience  to  host  communities  in  Jordan  and  Lebanon.  The 
remaining  portion  of  this  margin  (EUR 3,4 million)  is  however  largely  insufficient  to  cover 
the urgent humanitarian support to refugees in Turkey. 

the  financing  of  EUR 100 million 

just  allows 

Because  of  the  full  exhaustion  of  the  envelopes  of  the  other  two  special  instruments  of  the 
MFF  Regulation  (Global  Margin  for  Commitments  and  Flexiblity  Instrument),  the 
Commission  proposes,  as  a  last  resort,  to  mobilise  the  Contingency  Margin  for  2020  for  an 
amount  of  EUR 481,6 million  to  ensure  the  full  financing  of  commitment  appropriations 
related to  expenditure under heading 4 in  the general  budget  of the European Union for the 
financial year 2020, over and above the commitment ceiling. 

2. 

JUSTIFICATION OF THE MOBILISATION 

2.1. 

INTRODUCTION  

Under  the  EU-Turkey  Statement,  the  Commission  and  Member  States  committed  in  two 
tranches  EUR 6 billion  in  EU  assistance  to  refugees  in  Turkey  for  2016-2019,  delivered 
through  the  Facility  for  Refugees  in  Turkey.  The  operational  envelope  of  this  funding  has 
been  committed  in  full  and  the  contracting  will  be  finalised  in  the  course  of  2020. 
Disbursements reached EUR 3,2 billion as of end-April 2020. 

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OJ L347, 20.12.2013, p.884. 
COM(2020) 173, 2.4.2020. 
COM(2020) 421, 3.6.2020. 

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The  second  tranche  of  EUR 3 billion  has  been  programmed  to  ensure  Facility  sustainability 
and  a  gradual,  managed  take-over  of  Facility-funded  initiatives  by  the  Turkish  authorities. 
However, Turkish authorities are not  yet able to  continue to provide the support required to 
the around 4 million refugees in Turkey in the medium- to long-term. At the March 2019 EU-
Turkey  Association  Council,  Turkey  requested  EU  support  beyond  the  Facility  to  support 
refugees.  Several  Member  States  also  asked  to  continue  support  to  refugees  in  Turkey  in 
recent  months.  Due  to  the  COVID-19  outbreak,  the  economic  situation  in  Turkey  is 
deteriorating and vulnerable refugees are among the hardest hit by the crisis. 

Against this background and in order to avoid a discontinuation of the two projects with severe 
humanitarian  and  political  consequences,  there  is  an  urgent  need  to  provide  the  necessary 
means  to  fund  the  continuation  of  the  two  main  EU  humanitarian  support  actions,  the 
Emergency  Social  Safety  Net  (ESSN)  and  the  Conditional  Cash  Transfer  for  Education 
(CCTE). 

The ESSN, that provides monthly cash transfers to some 1,7 million refugees, is expected to 
run out of money in March 2021 at the latest and EUR 400 million is needed to extend it until 
the end of 2021. 

The CCTE provides cash to refugee families whose children attend school instead of working. 
The  current  contract  for  CCTE  ends  in  September  2020  and  EUR 85 million  is  urgently 
needed  in  order  to  allow  the  programme  to  run  for  an  additional  year  up  to  the  end  of 
December 2021. 

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  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  management4,  the  Commission  has  carried  out  an  analysis  of  the 
possibility to reallocate significant amounts within heading 4 (Global Europe) but concluded 
there is no scope for further redeployment in 2020. 

Since the unallocated margin available under this heading (EUR 3,4 million) is insufficient to 
finance the proposed increase of commitment appropriations (and because both the Flexibility 
instrument  and  the  Global  margin  for  commitments  have  already  been  fully  exhausted  in 
2020,  the  mobilisation  of  the  Contingency  Margin  is  the  only  available  –  the  last  resort  – 
instrument to finance the remaining additional expenditure above the ceiling of heading 4 as 
proposed in DAB No 5/2020. 

2.3. 

BUDGETARY IMPACT OF UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES IN 2020 

The Commission proposes to mobilise EUR 481,6 million through the Contingency Margin to 
cover  the  additional  needs  related  to  the  continuation  of  urgent  humanitarian  support  to 
refugees in Turkey. 

The  corresponding  payment  appropriations  will  be  accommodated  within  the  ceiling  for 
payments. There is no need to mobilise the Contingency Margin in payments. 

4 

OJ C 373, 20.12.2013, p. 1. 

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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  2020  under  heading  4  and  the  related  offsetting  have  to  respect  the  total 
commitment ceiling for the year 2020, the last year of the current MFF period. 

The Commission proposes to offset the proposed reinforcement of expenditure under heading 
4  against  the  unallocated  margin  available  under  the  expenditure  ceiling  of  headings 
5 (Administration) and 2 (Sustainable growth: natural resources). 

After  the  offsetting,  a  margin  of  EUR 48,7 million  would  still  remain  available  under  the 
expenditure ceiling of heading 2 (Sustainable growth: natural resources). 

No margin would remain available under the other expenditure ceilings. 

The overall commitment ceiling for the whole MFF would 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  DAB  No 5/2020,  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 2020 to continue humanitarian 
support to refugees in Turkey 

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 thereof, 

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission, 

Whereas,  
(1)  Article  13  of  Council  Regulation  (EU,  Euratom)  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 Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1311/2013, the Commission 
has calculated the absolute amount of this Contingency Margin for 20203. 

(3) After having examined all other financial possibilities to react to unforeseen circumstances 
within  the  2020  commitment  ceiling  for  heading  4 (Global  Europe)  of  the  multiannual 
financial framework (MFF), and given that no other special instruments are available in 2020 
to react to such circumstances, it is necessary to mobilise the Contingency Margin to address 
the  urgent  need  to  provide  humanitarian  support  to  refugees  in  Turkey  by  increasing  the 
commitment  appropriations  in  the  general  budget  of  the  Union  for  the  financial  year  2020, 
over and above the ceiling of heading 4 of the MFF. 

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

(5)  This  Decision  is  linked  to  financing  included  in  amending  budget  No 5  to  the  general 
budget  of  the  European  Union  for  2020.  In  order  to  ensure  coherence  with  that  amending 
budget, this Decision should apply from the date of its adoption. 

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DECISION: 

Article 1 

For the general budget of the Union for the financial year 2020, the Contingency Margin shall 
be mobilised to provide the amount of EUR 481 572 239 in commitment appropriations over 
and above the commitment ceiling of heading 4 (Global Europe) of the multiannual financial 
framework. 

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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). 
Communication  from  the  Commission  to  the  Council  and  the  European  Parliament–  Technical 
adjustment in respect of special instrument instruments for 2020 (COM(2020) 173, 2.4.2020). 

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Article 2 

The amount of EUR 481 572 239 referred to in  Article 1 shall be offset  against the margins 
under  the  commitment  ceiling  for  the  financial  year  2020  of  the  following  heading  of  the 
multiannual financial framework: 

(a) 

(b) 

heading 5 (Administration): EUR 16 248 368; 

heading 2 (Sustainable growth: natural resources): EUR 465 323 871. 

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

Article 3 

It shall apply from …[the day of its adoption**] 

Done at Brussels, 

For the European Parliament 
The President 

For the Council 
The President 

[** Date to be inserted by Parliament before the publication in the OJ.] 

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