Amending budget 3/2019: assistance to Romania, Italy and Austria

The European Parliament adopted by 649 votes to 19, with 30 abstentions, a resolution approving the Council's position on Draft amending budget No 3/2019 of the European Union for the financial year 2019 accompanying the proposal to mobilise the European Union Solidarity Fund to assist Romania, Italy and Austria.

Draft amending budget No 3/2019 covers the proposed mobilisation of the European Union Solidarity Fund to provide assistance to Romania for the flooding in the North-East Region, to Italy for the flooding and landslides following heavy rainfall from the Alpine areas in the North down to Sicily, as well as to Austria for the same phenomenon in the Alpine/southern regions in the course of 2018.

The Commission consequently proposed to amend the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2019 and to increase budget line 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 293 551 794 both in commitment and payment appropriations.

It is recalled that the European Union Solidarity Fund is a special instrument as defined in the MFF Regulation, and the corresponding commitment and payments appropriations are to be budgeted over and above the MFF ceilings.