Member States’ ambassadors to the European Union (Coreper) are expected to adopt, on Wednesday 9 September, the EU Council’s initial position on the draft EU budget for 2021.
These texts will serve to give the German EU Council Presidency a mandate for the budgetary conciliation with the European Parliament on next year’s budget.
The EU Council states that it “will reassess its position in light of the final text of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2021-2027 and the Commission’s letter of amendment expected later in the procedure”. In this respect, it urges the Commission to present the letter of amendment by 31 October 2020 at the latest, in order to facilitate the work of the two arms of the budgetary authority and to ensure the timely adoption of the 2021 budget.
Furthermore, the EU Council invites the Commission to present without delay a proposal for a relevant instrument to make the Brexit Adjustment Reserve operational, in order to ensure that a sufficient amount of appropriations can be mobilised from the beginning of 2021.
The EU Council foresees, at this stage, a 2021 budget of €162.9 billion in commitment appropriations and €164.8 billion in payment appropriations.
As regards the sub-heading 2 ‘Cohesion’, the EU Council provides for an increase in payment appropriations of €3.6 billion to cover the budgetary consequences of an increase in the pre-financing rate for programmes relating to the 2014-2020 period (increase from 1% to 2% as from 1 January 2021, taking into account the guidelines provided by the European Council). The EU Council applies an ‘arithmetical correction’ to the amounts (in commitment and payment appropriations) proposed by the Commission for 2021 for several programmes.
The Commission had forecast a draft budget for 2021 of €166.7 billion in commitment appropriations and €163.5 billion in payments. The Parliament’s Committee on Budgets had adopted its position in June (see EUROPE 12497/21).
The Ecofin budget session will take place on 13 November.
To consult one of the documents on the EU Council’s position: https://bit.ly/336bwRa (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)