Amending budget 2/2013: increase of revenue and payment appropriations

The European Parliament adopted by 590 votes to 95, with 15 abstentions, a resolution approving, unamended, the Council position on Draft amending budget No 2/2013 of the European Union for the financial year 2013, Section III – Commission.

Parliament recalls that the overall amount of payment claims pending at the end of 2012 for cohesion policy (2007-2013), amounting to EUR 16.2 billion, had to be rolled over to 2013, consequently reducing the level of payments available in the budget 2013 to cover the payment needs of this year.

It recalls that the Parliament, the Council and the Commission engaged through a joint declaration in December 2012 to cover all unpaid payment claims for 2012 through an Amending budget at an early stage in 2013.  It also recalls that the political agreement reached on 27 June 2013 at the highest political level between Parliament, the Council Presidency and the Commission on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for the period 2014-2020 included a political commitment from the Council to take all necessary steps to:

• ensure that EU's obligations of 2013 are fully honoured,
• formally adopt Draft amending budget No 2/2013 for EUR 7.3 billion,
• adopt without delay a further draft amending budget to be proposed by the Commission in early autumn to avoid any shortfall in justified payment appropriations.

The Council formally adopted its position on Draft amending budget No 2/2013 on 9 July 2013 for an amount of EUR 7.3 billion that will cover outstanding payment needs across headings 1a, 1b, 2, 3a, 3b and 4.

Parliament recalls that the Members linked the adoption by the Council of the further draft amending budget in early autumn with the adoption of the MFF Regulation or the Budget 2014. It considers the amount of EUR 11.2 billion as a bare minimum to cover the actual needs until the end of 2013. It recalls, however, the financial constraints to which the Member States are subject and accepts therefore that outstanding needs in payments until the end of 2013 (EUR 11.2 billion EUR as estimated by the Commission) are covered in two consecutive steps.

In this context, it urges the Commission to present in the early autumn a further draft amending budget solely devoted to this issue.

It recalls its position set out in its resolution of 3 July 2013 on the political agreement on the MFF 2014-2020 that the Parliament will not give its consent to the MFF Regulation or will not adopt the Budget 2014 until this new amending budget, covering the remaining 2013 deficit in payments as identified by the Commission, has been adopted in full by the Council.

It recalls that the adoption of Draft amending budget No 3/2013 would reduce the share of the GNI contribution by Member States to the Union budget and therefore partly compensate their contribution to Amending budget No 2/2013. It highlights therefore that the two dossiers are subject to a common calendar for adoption, since strictly linked from a political point of view.

At the same time, Parliament approves, unamended, the Council position on Draft amending budget No 2/2013.