Amending budget 2/2023: surplus of the financial year 2022

The European Parliament adopted by 604 votes to 4, with 29 abstentions, a resolution on the Council position on draft amending budget No 2/2023 of the European Union for the financial year 2023: Entering the surplus of the financial year 2022.

Parliament approved the Council position on the draft amending budget No 2/2023.

The Draft amending budget No 2/2023 is designed to enter in the 2023 budget the surplus from the financial year 2022 amounting to EUR 2 519 million.

On the revenue side, the surplus is predominantly driven by a higher than expected amount of customs duties (just over EUR 2 billion). The surplus in administrative revenue of EUR 170 million is mostly attributable to the higher than originally forecasted.

On the expenditure side, under-implementation in payments by the Commission totalled EUR 247 million for 2022 and EUR 75 million for 2021 carryovers.

Members pointed out that the surplus reduces the total contribution of Member States to the financing of the 2023 budget. They also stated that the high financing needs to address the multiple challenges faced by the Union, such as the consequences of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and climate change, and the increasing EURI borrowing costs could limit severely the Union budget’s ability to finance the Union’s priorities and policies and to respond to emerging needs.

Therefore, Members urged the Member States to take advantage of the reduction in their GNI-based contributions stemming from the 2022 surplus to fund actions in those fields or to use it as extra flexibility, in order to respond to the repeated calls to ensure that there is enough flexibility and margins in the Union budget to be able to respond to urgencies without compromising already agreed budgetary appropriations.

Parliament recalled its long-standing position that fines and fees should be used as extra revenue for the Union budget and should not lead to a corresponding decrease in GNI contributions.

Taking note of the calculation of the annual GNI lump-sum reductions for certain Member States, which amount to just over EUR 5 billion net, Parliament stressed that the current high rate of inflation increases the size of the rebates while at the same time it reduces the real-term value of the Union budget, thereby further increasing the funding gap faced by the Union budget. It also recalled its long-standing position that rebates and other correction mechanisms should be abolished.