Amending budget 4/2023: reduction in payment appropriations; other adjustments and technical updates

The European Parliament adopted by 584 votes to 11, with 20 abstentions, a resolution on the Council position on Draft amending budget No 4/2023 of the European Union for the financial year 2023 – Reduction in payment appropriations, other adjustments and technical updates.

Parliament approved the Council’s position on the draft amending budget No 4/2023.

As a reminder, the main purpose of Draft amending budget No 4/2023 is to update the expenditure side of the budget, amongst other things to:

- reduce the appropriations of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project by EUR 280 000 000 in commitment appropriations and EUR 264 000 000 in payment appropriations, due to delays in implementation, and;

- decrease the level of payment appropriations for the Digital Europe Programme, the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund Plus, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund for a total amount of EUR 3 000 000 000.

The overall net impact of Draft amending budget No 4/2023 on expenditure amounts to a decrease of EUR 247 500 000 in commitment appropriations and EUR 3 254 800 000 in payment appropriations.

Parliament expressed grave concern at the delays in implementation in programmes in the current Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and the consequent reduction in payment appropriations. It called on the Member States to press ahead with implementation, with the Commission’s support, to ensure the full absorption of available appropriations. It stressed the need to avoid a payments crisis at the end of the current MFF.

Members pointed in particular to the cut in payment appropriations to the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) proposed by the Commission on account of the fact that a number of high-value invoices are still under analysis and some payment conditionality requirements are not yet met for certain projects. According to Members, such delays to be highly problematic since AMIF must be flexible and responsive in the event of migratory flows.

Parliament considered that the Union should provide a strong response to rapidly rising needs, in particular with regard to humanitarian aid, including in the Middle East and the Caucasus. It called on the Commission to assess budgetary possibilities to provide support already in 2023, through either another draft amending budget or a transfer.