The European Parliament adopted by 612 votes to 25, with 27 abstentions, a resolution on the Council's position on Draft amending budget No 6/2018 of the European Union for the financial year 2018: Reduction of payment and commitment appropriations in line with updated forecasts of expenditure and update of revenue (own resources).

Parliament approved the Council’s position on Draft amending budget No 6/2018 which aims to aims to update both the expenditure and the revenue sides of the budget to take account of the latest developments.

Expenditure side

Draft amending budget No 6/2018 reduces commitment and payment appropriations for budget lines by EUR 48.7 million and EUR 4.7 million respectively in headings 1a “Competitiveness for growth and employment” and 2 “Sustainable growth - natural resources”.

Parliament welcomed the fact that implementation of 2014-2020 programmes is finally reaching cruising speed and results in only a minor adjustment to the expenditure side compared to the very significant amending budgets adopted in 2016 and 2017. It encouraged the Commission and the Member States to make up for the major delays accumulated in the last three years.

Revenue side

Draft amending budget No 6/2018 concerns a revision of the forecasts for traditional own resources (customs duties and contributions in the sugar sector) and value added tax (VAT) and gross national income (GNI) bases, and a revision of the budget entry for the corresponding UK corrections and their financing.

Parliament took note of the technical process of rebalancing own resources made necessary by the revision of the forecasts for traditional own resources and VAT and by the updates of the UK correction.

The Committee on Budgets adopted a report by Siegfried MUREŞAN (EPP, RO) on the Council's position on Draft amending budget No 6/2018 of the European Union for the financial year 2018: Reduction of payment and commitment appropriations in line with updated forecasts of expenditure and update of revenue (own resources).

On the expenditure side , Draft amending budget No 6/2018 reduces commitment and payment appropriations for budget lines by EUR 48.7 million and EUR 4.7 million respectively in headings 1a “Competitiveness for growth and employment” and 2 “Sustainable growth - natural resources”.

As regards the revenue side , Draft amending budget No 6/2018 concerns a revision of the forecasts for traditional own resources (customs duties and contributions in the sugar sector) and value added tax (VAT) and gross national income (GNI) bases, and a revision of the budget entry for the corresponding UK corrections and their financing.

Members approve the Council's position on Draft amending budget No 6/2018 . They welcome the fact that the implementation of the 2014-2020 programmes is reaching cruising speed and results in only a minor adjustment of the expenditure side compared to the considerable amending budgets adopted in 2016 and 2017. They encourage the Commission and the Member States to make up for the significant delays accumulated over the last three years.

Members take note of the technical process of rebalancing own resources made necessary by the revision of the forecasts for traditional own resources and VAT and by the updates of the UK correction.

On 16 October 2018, the Commission submitted to the Council draft amending budget (DAB) No 6 to the general budget for 2018.

With regard to the expenditure side , the following modifications are proposed:

to decrease payment appropriations (p/a) by -EUR 44.7 million under heading 2 distributed in the Sustainable Fisheries Agreements (-EUR 43.3 million), and in the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (-EUR 1.4 million); to decrease commitment appropriations (c/a) by -EUR 48.7 million under heading 2 distributed in the Sustainable Fisheries Agreements (-EUR 46.6 million), in the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (-EUR 1.4 million) and in the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (-EUR 0.7 million).

The changes on the revenue side proposed in this DAB concern:

the revision of the forecast of customs duties, value added tax (VAT) and gross national income (GNI) bases, the budgeting of the relevant UK corrections and their financing, which affects the distribution of own resources contributions from Member States to the EU budget; the reimbursement to the Member States of the overpaid sugar levies of EUR 93 million, following the judgement of the Court of Justice (case C-585/15 - Raffinerie Tirlemontoise).

Overall, this DAB increases the GNI contributions by EUR 2.8 billion .

On 26 November 2018, the Council adopted its position on DAB No 6 to the general budget for 2018 as set out in the technical annex to the Council draft amending budget No 6/2018.

On 16 October 2018, the Commission submitted to the Council draft amending budget (DAB) No 6 to the general budget for 2018.

With regard to the expenditure side , the following modifications are proposed:

to decrease payment appropriations (p/a) by -EUR 44.7 million under heading 2 distributed in the Sustainable Fisheries Agreements (-EUR 43.3 million), and in the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (-EUR 1.4 million); to decrease commitment appropriations (c/a) by -EUR 48.7 million under heading 2 distributed in the Sustainable Fisheries Agreements (-EUR 46.6 million), in the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (-EUR 1.4 million) and in the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (-EUR 0.7 million).

The changes on the revenue side proposed in this DAB concern:

the revision of the forecast of customs duties, value added tax (VAT) and gross national income (GNI) bases, the budgeting of the relevant UK corrections and their financing, which affects the distribution of own resources contributions from Member States to the EU budget; the reimbursement to the Member States of the overpaid sugar levies of EUR 93 million, following the judgement of the Court of Justice (case C-585/15 - Raffinerie Tirlemontoise).

Overall, this DAB increases the GNI contributions by EUR 2.8 billion .

On 26 November 2018, the Council adopted its position on DAB No 6 to the general budget for 2018 as set out in the technical annex to the Council draft amending budget No 6/2018.

PURPOSE: presentation by the European Commission of Draft amending budget No 6 to the general budget 2018.

CONTENT: the purpose of Draft amending budget (DAB) No 6 for the 2018 financial year is to update both the expenditure and revenue components of the budget to take account of recent developments:

1) Reduction in payment and commitment appropriations: the reduction in the level of commitment and payment appropriations requested in this DAB ( EUR 48.7 million and EUR 44.7 million, respectively ) concerns only headings 1a Competitiveness for growth and employment) and 2 (Sustainable growth - natural resources).

Following the reduction in commitment appropriations proposed in this ACB for heading 1a, the amount of the overall margin for commitments (MGE) used is reduced accordingly to EUR 760,6 million.

Sustainable fisheries agreements: on the basis of an updated analysis of the situation in the negotiations for partnership agreements in the field of sustainable fisheries, amounts of EUR 46.6 million in commitment appropriations and EUR 43.3 million in payment appropriations may be released from the reserve line (Article 40 02 41). Decentralised body - European Chemicals Agency (ECHA): While fee income is higher than expected in heading 1a (chemicals legislation), the number of applications for EU authorisation for biocides is decreasing significantly. This results in a shortfall in royalty income in heading 2. An increase in the EU's balancing contribution under heading 2 is required for an amount of EUR 1.9 million in commitment and payment appropriations, and it is proposed to offset this increase by a corresponding reduction in the EU's balancing contribution to ECHA under heading 1a. European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF): due to certain delays in the recruitment of IT service providers and following the cancellation of certain audits, it is proposed to reduce the level of commitment and payment appropriations by a total amount of EUR 1.4 million . European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD): due to the postponement of actions/events planned in relation to the European Rural Development Network and the European Innovation Partnership Network, it is proposed to reduce the level of commitment appropriations under the item operational technical assistance by an amount of EUR 700 000 .

2) Update of revenue: it is proposed to revise the forecasts for traditional own resources (customs duties and sugar levies) and value added tax (VAT) and gross national income (GNI) resources, and to budget for the corresponding UK corrections and their financing, all of which have an impact on the distribution of Member States' own resources contributions to the EU budget.