Brussels, 01/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 4 April, the European Parliament's budgets committee will discuss a draft report which, given the urgency of the matter, approves the release of the first finance from the new emergency humanitarian aid fund within the EU (see EUROPE 11514).
The report by José Manuel Fernandes (EPP, Portugal) on draft amending budget1/2016 foresees an initial batch of €100 million in commitments and €80.2 million in payment appropriations to deal with the refugee crisis in Greece. The report will be adopted by the budgets committee on 11 April so that the EP plenary can then vote in favour of the amending budget.
The EP is counting on taking a critical stance, however, stressing that “a new ad hoc mechanism has been put in place without an overall strategy to address the refugee crisis and without ensuring the full observance of Parliament's prerogatives as co-legislator”, as Fernandes' report says. It says that “a more sustainable legal and budgetary framework should be envisaged in order to allow for humanitarian aid within the Union to be mobilised in the future, when circumstances so require” and says that this type of emergency financing “should by its very nature be covered by special instruments and be counted outside the MFF (Ed: multiannual financial framework) ceilings”.
For the sums that remain to be released under this new instrument (another €200 million in commitments in 2016, followed by €200 million in 2017 and €200 million in 2018), Fernandes calls on the Commission to issue a proposal to use the contingency margin, which is an instrument of last resort for reacting to contingencies and which stands at 0.03% of the EU's gross national income. The rapporteur points out that there is no margin left under heading 3 (Security and Citizenship) of the MFF. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)