On Friday 27 March, the European Commission adopted the first amending budget for the year 2020, increasing the EU budget by €75 million to help Member States repatriate their nationals and to increase the budget of the RescEU medical stockpile.
The draft amending budget includes a total of €115 million in additional funding to "provide an urgent response to prevent further deterioration of the situation resulting from the COVID-19 epidemic", according to the text of the proposal (see other news).
For Johannes Hahn, EU Budget Commissioner, the measures announced represent "yet another illustration of how the EU budget can add value when and where needed the most. It is also an illustration of European solidarity and cooperation at its best".
This draft amending budget also foresees €350 million in financial assistance to Greece in migration management, to be added to the €350 million in emergency aid already deployed, in line with the commitment of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during her visit to Greece.
This draft amending budget also foresees: - + €3.6 million for the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control to enhance the capacity to identify and assess threats to human health from communicable diseases and to increase its expert capacity in light of the coronavirus crisis; - +€100 million to help Albania recover from the devastating earthquake on 26 November 2019; - + an additional €3.3 million for the European Public Prosecutor's Office to boost its 2020 budget (this money will enable it to recruit qualified staff more quickly and acquire IT equipment so that it can start handling the first cases).
In total, the additional appropriations proposed in this draft amending budget amount to €567.4 million in commitments and €77.4 million in payments.
The European Parliament and the EU Council are now invited to approve as soon as possible the proposed budgetary changes to ensure that the funds can meet the most pressing needs.
Link to the draft amending budget: https://bit.ly/2WNpHJl (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)