The European Parliament,

–  having regard to the Commission proposal to the European Parliament and the Council (COM(2018)0901 – C8‑0492/2018),

–  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(1), and in particular Article 11 thereof,

–  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(2), and in particular point 12 thereof,

–  having regard to the new draft general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2019, which the Commission adopted on 30 November 2018 (COM(2018)0900), in accordance with Article 314(8) TFEU,

–  having regard to the conclusions of the budgetary trilogue of 4 December 2018,

–  having regard to the position on the second draft general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2019, which the Council adopted on 11 December 2018 and forwarded to Parliament on the same day (15205/2018 – C8-0499/2018),

–  having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets (A8-0455/2018),

A.  whereas the Flexibility Instrument is intended to allow the financing, for a given financial year, of clearly identified expenditure which could not be financed within the limits of the ceilings available for one or more other headings,

B.  whereas the Commission had proposed to mobilise the Flexibility Instrument to supplement the financing available in the general budget of the Union for the financial year 2019 beyond the ceiling of heading 3 by the amount of EUR 985 629 138 to finance measures in the field of migration, refugees and security,

C.  whereas representatives of the Parliament and the Council agreed, at the budgetary trilogue of 4 December 2018, to further mobilise the Flexibility Instrument by EUR 178 715 475 as a result of reinforcements of Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+ programmes in subheading 1a;

1.  Agrees with the mobilisation of the Flexibility Instrument for an amount of EUR 1 164 344 613 in commitment appropriations;

2.  Reiterates that the mobilisation of this instrument, as provided for in Article 11 of the MFF Regulation, shows, once more, the crucial need for the Union budget to be more flexible;

3.  Reiterates its long-standing view that the payments stemming from commitments previously mobilised through the Flexibility Instrument can only be counted over and above the MFF ceilings;

4.  Approves the decision annexed to this resolution;

5.  Instructs its President to sign the decision with the President of the Council and arrange for its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union;

6.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution, including its annex, to the Council and the Commission.

(1) OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 884. (2) OJ C 373, 20.12.2013, p. 1.

DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

on the mobilisation of the Flexibility Instrument to reinforce key programmes for the competitiveness of the EU and to finance immediate budgetary measures to address the on-going challenges of migration, refugee inflows and security threats

(The text of this annex is not reproduced here since it corresponds to the final act, Decision (EU) 2019/276.)