Brussels, 13/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - Coreper, the committee of member states' permanent representatives to the EU, reached agreement on Friday 13 February on a proposal to transfer commitment appropriations that were not used in 2014 (€21.1 billion) to subsequent years (€16.5 billion to 2015, €4.5 billion to 2016 and €100 million to 2017) by means of revision of the 2014-2020 multiannual financial framework (MFF) (see EUROPE 11250 on the last General Affairs Council).
The revision of the MFF requires unanimous agreement in Council. The Coreper agreement is expected to be confirmed at the meeting of EU economy and finance ministers on Tuesday 17 February. The regulation revising the MFF will be formally adopted by the Council once the European Parliament has given its assent.
Italy will be affected by the transfer of €4.1 billion (of a total of €6.2 billion) from 2014 to subsequent years. For Spain, the sum is €3.5 billion from a total of €5.7 billion. For the Czech Republic, the transfer will affect virtually the entirety of its funding of €3.2 billion. For Romania, €3.1 billion of total funding of €3.9 billion will be affected.
The proposal for MFF revision will be accompanied by a draft amending budget (No 2/2015) setting out the corresponding increases in commitment appropriations (€16.5 billion in all) in the 2015 budget. The decision on the draft amending budget will have to be taken jointly by the European Parliament and the Council. (Lionel Changeur)