European Parliament resolution of 19 October 2022 on the Council position on Draft amending budget No 4/2022 of the European Union for the financial year 2022: update of revenue (own resources) and other technical adjustments (12623/2022 – C9-0317/2022 – 2022/0211(BUD))
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) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 July 2018 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union, amending Regulations (EU) No 1296/2013, (EU) No 1301/2013, (EU) No 1303/2013, (EU) No 1304/2013, (EU) No 1309/2013, (EU) No 1316/2013, (EU) No 223/2014, (EU) No 283/2014, and Decision No 541/2014/EU and repealing Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012(1), and in particular Article 44 thereof,
– having regard to the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2022, as definitively adopted on 24 November 2021(2),
– having regard to Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2093 of 17 December 2020 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2021-2027(3) (‘MFF Regulation’),
– having regard to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 16 December 2020 between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission on budgetary discipline, on cooperation in budgetary matters and on sound financial management, as well as on new own resources, including a roadmap towards the introduction of new own resources(4) (‘IIA’),
– having regard to Council Decision (EU, Euratom) 2020/2053 of 14 December 2020 on the system of own resources of the European Union and repealing Decision 2014/335/EU, Euratom(5),
– having regard to Draft amending budget No 4/2022, which the Commission adopted on 1 July 2022(COM(2022)0350),
– having regard to the position on Draft amending budget No 4/2022 which the Council adopted on 20 September 2022 and forwarded to Parliament on the same day (12623/2022 – C9-0317/2022),
– having regard to Rules 94 and 96 of its Rules of Procedure,
– having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets (A9-0240/2022),
A. whereas the main purpose of Draft amending budget No 4/2022 is to update the revenue side of the budget to take account of the latest developments, namely the updated own resources forecasts for the 2022 budget agreed by the Advisory Committee on Own Resources (ACOR) on 23 May 2022, and to update other revenues such as the United Kingdom contribution, fines and other;
B. whereas Draft amending budget No 4/2022 also includes two specific adjustments related to expenditure, corresponding to an adjustment of the budgetary nomenclature following the Commission proposal for REPowerEU on 18 May 2022(6) and to the extension of the mandate of Eurojust to collect and preserve evidence of war crimes(7); whereas no additional commitment and payment appropriations are requested;
C. whereas Parliament has repeatedly considered that a draft amending budget should have one purpose only;
1. Takes note of Draft amending budget No 4/2022 as submitted by the Commission;
2. Points in particular to the increase of genuine own resources by EUR 3 573,9 million; recalls the need to speed up the introduction of new own resources in line with the roadmap set out in the IIA, namely that the additional revenue resulting from the new own resources will be sufficient to cover at least the repayment of costs of the Recovery Instrument;
3. Underlines that the Parliament has not yet set out its position on the proposal for REPowerEU Chapter of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF); stresses therefore that the proposed change of budget nomenclature is without prejudice to the legislative outcome;
4. Regrets that the Commission decided, in spite of Parliament’s insistence, to present together elements related to the update of revenue with other elements related to ongoing negotiations; reiterates that, to better respect the prerogative of the budgetary authority, the Commission should present a draft amending budget for one purpose only and refrain from combining several purposes in one draft amending budget;
5. Commends the swift adoption of Regulation (EU) 2022/838 extending Eurojust’s mandate to support Ukraine with the collection, preservation and analysis of evidence relating to war crimes as a consequence of the brutal and unjustified Russian aggression; objects, however, to the intended use of internal redeployments within the same policy area later in the year to finance the posts proposed under this Draft amending budget; underlines in that context that there are sufficient margins under Heading 2b; reaffirms, further, its long-standing position that increasing tasks and responsibilities for agencies must be accompanied by corresponding levels of fresh resources;
6. Approves the Council position on Draft amending budget No 4/2022;
7. Instructs its President to declare that Amending budget No 4/2022 has been definitively adopted and arrange for its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union;
8. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the national parliaments.
Regulation (EU) 2022/838 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2022 amending Regulation (EU) 2018/1727 as regards the preservation, analysis and storage at Eurojust of evidence relating to genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and related criminal offences (OJ L 148, 31.5.2022, p. 1).