The European Parliament,

–  having regard to Article 314 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

–  having regard to Article 106a of the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community,

–  having regard to Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union and repealing Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002(1), and in particular Article 41 thereof,

–  having regard to the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2015, as definitively adopted on 17 December 2014(2),

–  having regard to Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1311/2013 of 2 December 2013 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2014-2020(3) (MFF Regulation),

–  having regard to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 2 December 2013 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline, on cooperation in budgetary matters and on sound financial management(4),

–  having regard to Draft amending budget No 2/2015, which the Commission adopted on 20 January 2015 (COM(2015)0016),

–  having regard to the position on Draft amending budget No 2/2015 which the Council adopted on 21 April 2015 and forwarded to Parliament on 22 April 2015 (07660/2015),

–  having regard to Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2015/623 of 21 April 2015 amending Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1311/2013 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2014-2020(5),

–  having regard to Rules 88 and 91 of its Rules of Procedure,

–  having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets and the opinion of the Committee on Regional Development (A8-0138/2015),

A.  whereas Draft amending budget No 2/2015 relates to the proposal for a Council regulation amending the MFF Regulation (COM(2015)0015) as provided for in its Article 19;

B.  whereas Article 19 of the MFF Regulation provides for a revision of the multiannual financial framework in the case of late adoption of rules or programmes under shared management to transfer allocations not used in 2014 to subsequent years, in excess of the corresponding expenditure ceilings;

C.  whereas commitment appropriations for programmes under shared management within the meaning of Article 19 of the MFF Regulation lapsed in 2014 for an amount of EUR 21 043 639 478 in current prices which corresponds to the 2014 tranches of programmes that could neither be committed in 2014 nor carried over to 2015;

D.  whereas Draft amending budget No 2/2015 provides for the transfer of the largest share of those allocations to the 2015 budget with smaller transfers to be integrated into the draft budgets for the years 2016 and 2017;

E.  whereas Draft amending budget No 2/2015 proposes a EUR 16 476,4 million increase in commitment appropriations in 2015 for the various funds under shared management under sub-heading 1b, heading 2 and heading 3;

F.  whereas Draft amending budget No 2/2015 also proposes an increase of EUR 2,5 million for the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA II) under heading 4, to preserve similar treatment between contributions from heading 4 and subheading 1b to the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) – European territorial cooperation (ETC) programmes;

1.  Notes Draft amending budget No 2/2015, as submitted by the Commission, and the Council's position thereon;

2.  Recalls that such a revision of the MFF Regulation is a standard procedure at the beginning of each MFF period and that the corresponding Draft amending budget needs to be aligned to this revision;

3.  Recalls that it is vital for European citizens and for the economies in all Member States that the unused appropriations for the year 2014 can be transferred to subsequent years in order to contribute to the creation of jobs and growth;

4.  Welcomes the fact that the unused appropriations for the year 2014 were transferred, to the maximum extent possible, to the financial year 2015 as this will avoid unfair treatment of certain Member States, regions and operational programmes, accelerate the implementation and delivery of Cohesion policy and help avoid the concentration of payments at the end of the MFF period;

5.  Is concerned however about the long-term impact this one-year postponement will have on the overall situation on payments; calls therefore on the Commission to monitor the implementation closely and to do its utmost to avoid the snowball effect of unpaid bills by presenting adequate proposals to adjust the annual levels of payment appropriations should the need arise, in line with the relevant provisions of the MFF Regulation;

6.  Draws attention to the fact that the decision to transfer most of the unused appropriations from 2014 to 2015 may require a flexible approach from the Commission in order to address possible difficulties resulting from an uneven financial profile, which could lead to unused commitments in the period 2014-2020; calls on the Commission to propose adequate measures, in case such a situation might arise, based on similar past experience that took into account the late approval of programmes;

7.  Underlines the need to agree on this Draft amending budget in due time in order to allow for a swift adoption of all programmes concerned;

8.  Approves the Council position on Draft amending budget No 2/2015;

9.  Instructs its President to declare that Amending budget No 1/2015 has been definitively adopted and arrange for its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union;

10.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Court of Auditors, the Committee of the Regions and the national parliaments.

(1) OJ L 298, 26.10.2012, p. 1. (2) OJ L 69, 13.3.2015. (3) OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 884. (4) OJ C 373, 20.12.2013, p. 1. (5) OJ L 103, 22.4.2015, p. 1.