The European Commission could, on Thursday 2 April, after a debate in the College of Commissioners the day before that, propose the activation of the EU Emergency Support Instrument (ESI) to deal with the coronavirus pandemic in the EU (see other news).
The Commission thus wishes to strengthen its budgetary responses to mitigate the effects of this health crisis (see EUROPE 12457/18).
In addition to the measures already announced and endorsed, the Commission indicated, on 28 March, that it would present a new proposal on the EU's Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2021-2027, "to address the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic" (see EUROPE 12457/2).
Regulation 2016/369 of 15 March 2016 concerns the provision of emergency aid within the Union. This can be provided to EU Member States in response to disasters with humanitarian consequences.
The mechanism was first activated in Greece in 2016 to address the influx of refugees and migrants into the EU, amounting to €643 million over the period 2016-2019.
''Contingency Margin''. The Commission will propose to use it, this time to deal with the pandemic. For this purpose, a draft amending budget and proposals on the use of the flexibility instrument and the mobilisation of the 'Contingency Margin' are foreseen in the framework of the EU 2020 budget.
This would thus make it possible to release new money, as requested in particular by the Members of the European Parliament Committee on Budgets.
This mechanism, which is included in the MFF 2014-2020 regulation, provides for a 'Contingency Margin' of up to 0.03% of the Union's Gross National Income to be constituted 'outside the ceilings of the MFF, as a last-resort instrument to react to unforeseen circumstances'. The Commission also proposes to amend the MFF Regulation to make precisely these changes.
It’s estimated that about €3.7 to €3.8 billion remains available in the current MFF (margins, special instruments, etc.), according to a European source.
The European Parliament has recently requested to mobilise all these funds, to revise the current MFF and to update the proposal on the MFF 2021-2027. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)