P9_TA(2023)0412 – Draft amending budget No 4/2023: Reduction in payment appropriations, other adjustments and technical updates – European Parliament resolution of 22 November 2023 on the Council position on Draft amending budget No 4/2023 of the European Union for the financial year 2023 – Reduction in payment appropriations, other adjustments and technical updates (14622/2023 – C9-0410/2023 – 2023/0367(BUD))
Date: 2023-11-22
Institutions: Committee on Budgets, Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, European Parliament
Subjects: EU expenditure, amending budget, draft budget (EU), financial year, general budget (EU), own resources








C_202404237EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2024/4237


24.7.2024






P9_TA(2023)0412

Draft amending budget No 4/2023: Reduction in payment appropriations, other adjustments and technical updates


European Parliament resolution of 22 November 2023 on the Council position on Draft amending budget No 4/2023 of the European Union for the financial year 2023 – Reduction in payment appropriations, other adjustments and technical updates (14622/2023 – C9-0410/2023 – 2023/0367(BUD))

(C/2024/4237)



The European Parliament,







—


having regard to Article 314 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,










—


having regard to Article 106a of the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community,










—


having regard to Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 July 2018 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union, amending Regulations (EU) No 1296/2013, (EU) No 1301/2013, (EU) No 1303/2013, (EU) No 1304/2013, (EU) No 1309/2013, (EU) No 1316/2013, (EU) No 223/2014, (EU) No 283/2014, and Decision No 541/2014/EU and repealing Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 (1), and in particular Article 44 thereof,










—


having regard to the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2023, as definitively adopted on 23 November 2022
                   (2),










—


having regard to Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2093 of 17 December 2020 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2021-2027 (3),










—


having regard to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 16 December 2020 between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission on budgetary discipline, on cooperation in budgetary matters and on sound financial management, as well as on new own resources, including a roadmap towards the introduction of new own resources (4),










—


having regard to Council Decision (EU, Euratom) 2020/2053 of 14 December 2020 on the system of own resources of the European Union and repealing Decision 2014/335/EU, Euratom (5),










—


having regard to Draft amending budget No 4/2023, which the Commission adopted on 11 October 2023 (COM(2023)0530),










—


having regard to the position on Draft amending budget No 4/2023, which the Council adopted on 9 November 2023 and forwarded to Parliament on 13 November 2023 (14622/2023 – C9-0410/2023),










—


having regard to Rules 94 and 96 of its Rules of Procedure,










—


having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets (A9-0363/2023),










A.


whereas the main purpose of Draft amending budget No 4/2023 is to update the expenditure side of the budget, amongst other things to reduce the appropriations of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project by EUR 280 000 000 in commitment appropriations and EUR 264 000 000 in payment appropriations, due to delays in implementation, and to decrease the level of payment appropriations for the Digital Europe Programme, the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund Plus, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund for a total amount of EUR 3 000 000 000;










B.


whereas the overall net impact of Draft amending budget No 4/2023 on expenditure amounts to a decrease of EUR 247 500 000 in commitment appropriations and EUR 3 254 800 000 in payment appropriations;













1.


Takes note of Draft amending budget No 4/2023 as submitted by the Commission;












2.


Highlights the cut proposed to the ITER project, which comes on top of the cut made at the time of the negotiation of the 2023 budget and the cut proposed by the Commission in draft budget 2024; expresses considerable concern at the progress made with the implementation of ITER and calls on the Commission to keep Parliament fully informed of developments and their impact on the Union financial contribution and to give more a detailed explanation of the reasons for the significant delays in the programme;












3.


Expresses grave concern at the delays in implementation in programmes in the current Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and the consequent reduction in payment appropriations; calls on the Member States to press ahead with implementation, with the Commission’s support, to ensure the full absorption of available appropriations; stresses the need to avoid a payments crisis at the end of the current MFF; recalls in that light its proposal to amend the Single Margin Instrument in order to scrap the annual cap in payment appropriations for recourse to that Instrument as part of the MFF revision and calls on the Council and the Commission to support Parliament’s proposal;












4.


Points in particular to the cut in payment appropriations to the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) proposed by the Commission on account of the fact that a number of high-value invoices are still under analysis and some payment conditionality requirements are not yet met for certain projects; considers such delays to be highly problematic since AMIF must be flexible and responsive in the event of migratory flows; calls on the Commission to expedite the process in order to be able to fully support Member States when they face high migration flows;












5.


Welcomes the proposal to increase the level of appropriations for the security of the building and IT systems of the European Public Prosecutor's Office and to allocate eight additional Temporary Agents; reiterates its long-standing position on the need to ensure that agencies whose mandate has been extended receive a commensurate increase in staff and budget;












6.


Takes notes of the adjustments proposed by the Commission in relation to Heading 7; highlights the fact that Union institutions require the necessary resources to be able to meet their legal and contractual obligations and fulfil their mandate; welcomes the efforts made by the Institutions to cover almost all the amounts required on account of the higher salary update rate through redeployments and the postponement of non-obligatory investments; takes note of the small increase required with respect to pension expenditure and the amount required by the European Schools to cover the cost of high energy prices;












7.


Considers that the Union should provide a strong response to rapidly rising needs, in particular with regard to humanitarian aid, including in the Middle East and the Caucasus; calls on the Commission to assess budgetary possibilities to provide support already in 2023, through either another draft amending budget or a transfer;












8.


Approves the Council position on Draft amending budget No 4/2023;












9.


Instructs its President to declare that Amending budget No 4/2023 has been definitively adopted and arrange for its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union;












10.


Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the national parliaments.






(1)  
            OJ L 193, 30.7.2018, p. 1.

(2)  
            OJ L 58, 23.2.2023, p. 1.

(3)  
            OJ L 433 I, 22.12.2020, p. 11.

(4)  
            OJ L 433 I, 22.12.2020, p. 28.

(5)  
            OJ L 424, 15.12.2020, p. 1.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/4237/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)