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Amending budget 4/2017: mobilisation of the European Union Solidarity Fund for Italy

2017/2109(BUD)

PURPOSE: to present draft amending budget (DAB) No 4 for the year 2017 to provide assistance to Italy following a series of earthquakes.

CONTENT: draft amending budget (DAB) No 4 for the year 2017 accompanies the proposal to mobilise the European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF) for an amount of EUR 1 196 797 579 to provide assistance to Italy further to a series of earthquakes that took place between August 2016 and January 2017 in the regions of Abruzzo, Lazio, Marche and Umbria.

DAB No 4/2017 proposes to enter in the general budget 2017 EUR 1 166 797 579 in commitment and payment appropriations to cover the budgetary needs of this mobilisation, after having deducted the advance already paid in 2016 (EUR 30 million).

Financing from the 2016, 2017 and 2018 EUSF allocations: the total amount available for the mobilisation of the EUSF at the beginning of 2017 was EUR 1 115 121 612, being the sum of the 2017 allocation of EUR 563 081 210 (i.e. EUR 500 million in 2011 prices), plus the entire 2016 allocation of EUR 552 040 402 (i.e. EUR 500 million in 2011 prices) that remained unspent and was carried over to the following year.

The amount that may be mobilised at this stage of the year 2017 is EUR 902 826 499. This corresponds to the total amount available for the mobilisation of the EUSF at the beginning of 2017 (EUR 1 115 121 612), minus the previous mobilisation (EUR 71 524 810), minus the retained amount of EUR 140 770 303 in order to respect the obligation of keeping aside 25% of the 2017 annual allocation until 1 October 2017. 

This amount is not sufficient to cover the full mobilisation of the EUSF for Italy. However, the Commission proposes to cover the difference of EUR 293 971 080 from the annual amount available in 2018.

Considering the amount of EUR 30 million that was already paid for this EUSF case as advance from the budget 2016, the Commission proposes to amend the budget 2017 by increasing budget article 13 06 01 'Assistance to Member States in the event of a major natural disaster with serious repercussions on living conditions, the natural environment or the economy' by EUR 1 166 797 579 both in commitment and payment appropriations.

Given the level of interim payments received before the closure, the Commission proposes to fully redeploy the necessary payment appropriations for this EUSF case within the budget 2017 and to replenish the negative reserve activated in the Amending Budget No 1/2017 (EUR 70 402 434) from the budget lines for some 2007-2013 structural funds programmes.