On Thursday 19 September, the EU Council adopted a revision of the EU’s Financial Regulation, which lays down the financial rules applicable to the EU budget (see EUROPE 13371/12).
With this targeted revision, the EU Council and Parliament aimed to align the Financial Regulation with the current Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021-2027.
Protection of financial interests. This new regulation should provide better protection for the Union’s financial interests, particularly in the digitisation process, while ensuring that any additional administrative burden remains limited for national administrations.
Crisis management. The period of the Covid-19 pandemic prompted certain amendments to this regulation to allow EU institutions or bodies, in exceptional situations, to use public procurement for the purchase of goods and services on behalf of the Member States or to act as a central purchasing body, to give or resell supplies and services. During the pandemic, when vaccines were ordered as a group purchase, this approach enabled us to obtain better terms based on economies of scale.
Negative revenue. The regulation enables the EU to manage these losses (linked to uncollected fines) financially by introducing the concept of negative revenue, a temporary accounting measure, until the end of the current Multiannual Financial Framework (2027).
The regulation was formally adopted by Parliament on 17 September. It should come into force on the third day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. (Original version in French by Florent Servia)