Brussels, 28/05/2014 (Agence Europe) - In order to meet its legal obligations, the Commission suggested on Wednesday 28 May that the level of payment appropriations in the EU's budget for 2014 be raised by €4.738 billion. In its publication of amending budget No.3 for 2014, the Commission hopes to be able to meet the increased cohesion policy payment demands from the member states and the difficult situation in Ukraine.
The Commission is proposing to use unallocated margins under the payment ceiling to raise €711 million and have recourse to the special instrument, the Contingency Margin, to raise €4.027 billion, which will not be welcome news for “net contributing” countries. The Commission comments: “However, the net cost to the Member States will be significantly lower, €2.165 billion, as the Commission will cash in more than €1.5 billion in additional revenue, mainly from competition fines as well as more than €1 billion resulting from the implementation of the 2013 budget”. The Contingency Margin is a new mechanism agreed for the 2014-2020 period allowing the European Union to call for additional funding in case of unforeseen circumstances. 0.03 % of the EU28's gross national income (€4.027 million in 2014) can be added to an annual budget. Payment ceilings for the year in question or future years must be decreased by the same amount to ensure that the overall ceiling for the whole period remains unchanged. Draft amending budget No. 3 addresses the need for additional payments for EU programmes that have been beefed up to support Europe's economic recovery, growth and jobs: Horizon 2020 (research), the Youth Employment Initiative, Erasmus+ (education), COSME (support to businesses). Furthermore, several legislative acts have been concluded after the adoption of the 2014 budget and require more payment appropriations. Finally, some other programmes require a top-up to cover the requirements of the past year.
The amending budget also covers cohesion policy, as some €3.4 billion is required to meet unusually high reimbursement claims from member states, as well as the aid package for Ukraine (€250 million to cover the payment of the first instalment in June 2014). (LC)