Amending budget 8/2020: mobilisation of the European Union Solidarity Fund to provide assistance to Croatia and Poland in relation to a natural disaster and to provide for the payment of advances to Croatia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Portugal and Spain in relation to a public health emergency

The European Parliament adopted by 682 votes to 8, with 2 abstentions, a resolution on the Council position on the Council position on draft amending budget No 9/2020 of the European Union for the financial year 2020 accompanying the proposal to mobilise the European Union Solidarity Fund to provide assistance to Croatia and Poland in relation to a natural disaster and to provide for the payment of advances to Croatia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Portugal and Spain in relation to a public health emergency.

Parliament approved the Council's position on draft amending budget No 9/2020, which covers the proposal to mobilise the European Union Solidarity Fund to:

- provide assistance to Croatia and Poland following natural disasters occurring in those Member States in 2020, and

- advance payments to seven Member States, namely Croatia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Portugal and Spain, in response to the major public health emergency caused by the spread of COVID-19 in early 2020.

The Commission proposed to amend the 2020 budget 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 823 548 633, both in commitment and payment appropriations.

The draft amending budget No 9/2020 proposes to enter EUR 734 596 756 in the 2020 budget, both in commitments and payments, after having deducted the advance of EUR 88 951 877 already paid out to Croatia.