Amending budget 6/2018: reduction of payment and commitment appropriations in line with updated forecasts of expenditure and update of revenue (own resources)

PURPOSE: presentation by the European Commission of Draft amending budget No 6 to the general budget 2018.

CONTENT: the purpose of Draft amending budget (DAB) No 6 for the 2018 financial year is to update both the expenditure and revenue components of the budget to take account of recent developments:

1) Reduction in payment and commitment appropriations: the reduction in the level of commitment and payment appropriations requested in this DAB (EUR 48.7 million and EUR 44.7 million, respectively) concerns only headings 1a Competitiveness for growth and employment) and 2 (Sustainable growth - natural resources).

Following the reduction in commitment appropriations proposed in this ACB for heading 1a, the amount of the overall margin for commitments (MGE) used is reduced accordingly to EUR 760,6 million.

• Sustainable fisheries agreements:on the basis of an updated analysis of the situation in the negotiations for partnership agreements in the field of sustainable fisheries, amounts of EUR 46.6 million in commitment appropriations and EUR 43.3 million in payment appropriations may be released from the reserve line (Article 40 02 41).
• Decentralised body - European Chemicals Agency (ECHA): While fee income is higher than expected in heading 1a (chemicals legislation), the number of applications for EU authorisation for biocides is decreasing significantly. This results in a shortfall in royalty income in heading 2.  An increase in the EU's balancing contribution under heading 2 is required for an amount of EUR 1.9 million in commitment and payment appropriations, and it is proposed to offset this increase by a corresponding reduction in the EU's balancing contribution to ECHA under heading 1a.
• European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF):due to certain delays in the recruitment of IT service providers and following the cancellation of certain audits, it is proposed to reduce the level of commitment and payment appropriations by a total amount of EUR 1.4 million.
• European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD): due to the postponement of actions/events planned in relation to the European Rural Development Network and the European Innovation Partnership Network, it is proposed to reduce the level of commitment appropriations under the item operational technical assistance by an amount of EUR 700 000.

2) Update of revenue: it is proposed to revise the forecasts for traditional own resources (customs duties and sugar levies) and value added tax (VAT) and gross national income (GNI) resources, and to budget for the corresponding UK corrections and their financing, all of which have an impact on the distribution of Member States' own resources contributions to the EU budget.