On Tuesday 9 July the EU Council of Ministers formally adopted the emergency regulation providing that payment of funds from the EU general budget to UK recipients may continue until 31 December 2019, if the United Kingdom continues to pay its contributions to the 2019 EU budget (see EUROPE 12234/3). Only the United Kingdom abstained from voting.
The EU Council thus endorsed the emergency measures for the implementation and financing of the EU budget for 2019 in the event of a disorderly exit of the United Kingdom in 2019.
The objective of these measures is to mitigate the impact of a no-deal scenario for funding in a wide range of areas, such as research and agriculture.
If the United Kingdom does not agree to contribute to the financing of the 2019 budget, the Commission will present a draft amending budget in due course in order to remedy the resulting financing gap.
In a joint statement by Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Spain, these countries declared that, as part of the contingency framework regarding the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU, the solution linked to the “rebates on the UK rebate” is a practical arrangement strictly limited to the year 2019 only. This shall constitute a precedent for 2020 or the future Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021-2027”. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)