On Friday 30 November, the European Commission adopted a second draft budget for 2019 containing no new developments for overcoming the current differences of principle between the two arms of the budgetary authority (see EUROPE 12149).
The 21-day conciliation period ended in failure, due to differences between the European Parliament and the Council. They differ not over large figures, but over the application of the new Article 15.3 of the Financial Regulation on making appropriations corresponding to decommitments available again for research projects.
The Commission explains in its proposal that it “is trying to reconcile the positions of the Parliament and the Council”. It "builds on the progress made in the Conciliation Committee, which to a large extent restored the Commission’s original draft budget". The Budget Commissioner, Günther Oettinger, stressed that it was “in the interest of all Europeans that the EU institutions reach an early agreement on the 2019 budget”. He calls on the Parliament and the Council to make compromises.
The Parliament/Council negotiations will take place on 4 and 5 December in trilogues.
+3.1% compared to 2018. In commitment appropriations, the total proposed expenditure amounts to €165.6 billion, i.e. 1.00% of the EU's GNI (Gross National Income) or an increase of €4.9 billion compared to 2018 (+3.1%). As regards payment appropriations, total expenditure amounts to €148.2 billion (+2.4% compared to 2018).
A targeted increase of the Horizon 2020 programme is proposed in the context of the application of Article 15.3 of the Financial Regulation.
Article 15.3. After 'decommitments' in 2017 (€412.8 million) due to the non-execution of research projects, and in accordance with Article 15.3 of the Financial Regulation (which applies exclusively to research), the Commission proposes to replenish €100 million in commitment appropriations in order to strengthen the pilot initiative on the 'European Innovation Council under the SME instrument'. The Council had expressed reservations about the use of this article, while the Parliament delegation made it a priority.
Provisional twelfths? If no agreement can be reached on the budget before the end of 2018, the provisional twelfths regime will take effect from 1 January 2019. This exceptional procedure (only used once before) "would cause delays in the implementation of key policies and programmes, in particular in the field of agriculture, and would prevent the commencement of any new activities", the Commission points out.
The flexibilities used. Overall, there is still a margin of €1.3 billion under the various MFF (multiannual financial framework) ceilings, taking into account the use of the 'global margin for commitments' (€1.4 billion), the mobilisation of the flexibility instrument (€985.6 million to meet the migration challenge in the coming years) and the compensation for the use, in 2017, of the contingency margin for migration-related expenditure (€253.9 million).
Heading 4 'Europe in the world' is characterised by a 12.4% increase in commitment appropriations (to €11.3 billion), taking into account the impact of the extension of the refugee facility in Turkey. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)