During the Parliament’s plenary session in Strasbourg on Wednesday 13 September, the Council of the European Union will present its position on the EU’s draft budget plan for 2024. On Tuesday 5 September, it approved the position reached by the Ambassadors of the Member States to the European Union (Coreper) on 12 July, amending the European Commission’s proposal published on 7 June (see EUROPE 13196/13).
On the Parliament side, the adoption of budget amendments and the accompanying budget resolution is scheduled for the second October plenary session, from the 16th - 19th.
In the document detailing its position, the EU Council says that, with regard to commitment appropriations, it wishes to ensure “a realistic absorption capacity”, “an appropriate acceleration in the implementation of programmes, avoiding increases compared to 2023” and ensuring that there are “sufficient margins under the ceilings to deal with unforeseen circumstances”.
Commitment appropriations
Compared with the Commission’s proposal, which estimated commitment appropriations at €189,340.98 million, the Council is reducing them by €771.92 million.
Adjustments are made for headings 1 (Single Market, Innovation and Digital), 2 (Cohesion, Resilience and Values), 3 (Natural Resources and Environment), 4 (Migration and Border Management) and 5 (Security and Defence) and aim to “reduce the lines that have been increased compared to the 2023 budget as voted, in order to prevent risks in terms of absorption capacity”.
An adjustment is also proposed for sub-heading 2b (Resilience and Values) for the line relating to the European Union Recovery Instrument (EURI) (concerning the financing costs of Next Generation EU).
“The adjustment proposed for the EURI line will make it unnecessary to use the ‘Single Margin Instrument’ proposed by the Commission for Sub-Heading 2b, and will also lead to a reduction in the proposed use of the flexibility instrument”, explains the Council document.
An upward adjustment is planned under heading 6 (Neighbourhood and the World) in Humanitarian Aid (HUMA) in order to maintain the same level of humanitarian aid as in the 2023 budget, particularly in response to the consequences of the war in Ukraine.
This requires the use of the flexibility instrument, as there is no margin available under Heading 6.
Payment appropriations
The Commission proposed payment appropriations of €143,053.38 million. The Council is reducing this amount by €514.62 million.
Under Heading 6, the Council proposes to maintain the same level of funding for HUMA as in the 2023 budget. The reduction on the EURI line (sub-heading 2b) results from the fact that this line contains non-differentiated appropriations (when commitments and payments are identical).
As far as administrative expenditure is concerned, the Council recommends accepting the Commission’s proposal, which reduces the budgets of all the EU institutions.
“In doing so, the Commission has brought the institutions’ budgets into line with the Council’s expectations, in particular as regards the stability of staff numbers and a limited increase in non-salary expenditure”, states the Council document.
To see the Council’s position and details by heading: https://aeur.eu/f/8hx (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)