PURPOSE: adoption of amending budget No 2 of the European Union for the 2019 financial year.

LEGISLATIVE ACT: definitive adoption (EU, Euratom) 2019/1809 of amending budget No 2 of the European Union for the financial year 2019.

CONTENT: Parliament noted that amending budget No 2 of the European Union for the 2019 financial year had been definitively adopted.

Amending budget No 2/2019 aims to provide the Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+ programmes with an additional EUR 100 million in commitment appropriations and to give effect to the agreement reached between Parliament and the Council in the negotiations on the 2019 budget.

The objective of the amending budget is:

to allocate an additional EUR 80 million to strengthen Horizon 2020 , including (i) an additional EUR 34.6 million to combat climate change, in particular batteries, green vehicles and green aviation ( Item 08 020 304 - Achieving a resource-efficient, environmentally friendly, safe and sustainable European transport system ); (ii) an additional amount of EUR 45.4 million to increase resources for the ‘Breakthrough zero-emissions energy generation for full decarbonisation’ and ‘Energy and climate change related technologies’ topics; to allocate an additional EUR 20 million to consolidate the Erasmus+ budget in order to strengthen the main mobility activities of the programme, in particular in the field of higher education and vocational education and training, as well as for centres of vocational excellence and to strengthen European universities in order to promote excellence, innovation and inclusion in higher education in Europe ( Item 15 020 101 - Promoting excellence and cooperation in education and training in Europe and its relevance to the labour market ).

The European Parliament adopted by 614 votes to 69, with 10 abstentions, a resolution approving the Council's position on Draft amending budget No 2/2019 of the European Union for the financial year 2019 – Reinforcement of key programmes for EU competitiveness: Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+.

Parliament took note of Draft amending budget No 2/2019 as submitted by the Commission, which is devoted to providing an additional EUR 100 million of commitment appropriations to Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+, to reflect the agreement reached between Parliament and the Council in the framework of the budget 2019 negotiations.

As a reminder, the Commission has proposed to allocate an additional EUR 80 million to reinforce Horizon 2020 and an additional EUR 20 million to Erasmus+ budget.

The objective of the draft amending budget is:

- to allocate to the Horizon 2020 programme (i) an additional amount of EUR 34.6 million to combat climate change, in particular batteries, green vehicles and the greening of aviation; (ii) an additional amount of EUR 45.4 million to increase resources for the themes “Breakthrough zero-emissions energy generation for full decarbonisation" and “Energy and climate change related technologies” topics;

- strengthen the core mobility activities in particular in the field of higher education and vocational education and training, as well as for centres of vocational excellence and strengthen European universities with a view to promoting excellence, innovation and inclusion in higher education in Europe.

Although it is not necessary to increase payment appropriations for Horizon 2020 by the end of 2019, Parliament has pointed out that the increased commitment appropriations for Erasmus+ will most probably need to be matched by increased payment appropriations still this year. It called on the Commission to inform the budgetary authority about how it intends to cover these increased payment needs.

The Committee on Budgets adopted the report by John HOWARTH (S&D, UK) on the Council position on draft amending budget No 2/2019 of the European Union for the financial year 2019 – Reinforcement of key programmes for EU competitiveness: Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+.

As a reminder, at the insistence of Parliament, the European Parliament and the Council decided, within the context of the budgetary procedure 2019, to budget EUR 100 million in an amending budget in 2019 to reinforce Horizon 2020 and Erasmus.

The Commission has proposed to allocate an additional EUR 80 million to reinforce Horizon 2020 and an additional EUR 20 million to Erasmus+ budget.

More specifically, the proposal seeks to reinforce:

- Item 08 02 01 02 (Strengthening research in future and emerging technologies) with EUR 45.4 million in commitments;

- Item 08 02 03 04 (Achieving a European transport system that is resource-efficient, environmentally friendly, safe and seamless) with EUR 34.6 million in commitments and;

- Item 15 02 01 01 (Promoting excellence and cooperation in the European education and training area and its relevance to the labour market) with EUR 20 million in commitments.

Members took note of the draft amending budget No 2/2019. No reinforcement in payment appropriations has been proposed at this stage.

They noted that, given the programmes’ profiles, while there might be no need to reinforce payment appropriations for Horizon 2020 by the end of year 2019, the reinforced commitment appropriations for Erasmus+ will most probably need to be matched by increased payment appropriations still this year.

The Commission is called on to inform the budgetary authority about how it intends to cover these increased payment needs.

The committee approved the Council position on Draft amending budget No 2/2019.

On 15 May 2019, the Commission submitted to the Council draft amending budget (DAB) No 2 to the general budget for 2019 regarding the reinforcement of the Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+ programmes as agreed by the European Parliament and the Council in a joint statement in the context of the agreement on the budget for 2019.

The proposal seeks to reinforce:

Item 08 02 01 02 (Strengthening research in future and emerging technologies) with EUR 45.4 million in commitments; Item 08 02 03 04 (Achieving a European transport system that is resource-efficient, environmentally friendly, safe and seamless) with EUR 34.6 million in commitments and; Item 15 02 01 01 (Promoting excellence and cooperation in the European education and training area and its relevance to the labour market) with EUR 20 million in commitments.

On 3 September 2019, the Council adopted its position on DAB No 2 to the general budget for 2019 as set out in the technical annex to its explanatory memorandum.

On 15 May 2019, the Commission submitted to the Council draft amending budget (DAB) No 2 to the general budget for 2019 regarding the reinforcement of the Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+ programmes as agreed by the European Parliament and the Council in a joint statement in the context of the agreement on the budget for 2019.

The proposal seeks to reinforce:

Item 08 02 01 02 (Strengthening research in future and emerging technologies) with EUR 45.4 million in commitments; Item 08 02 03 04 (Achieving a European transport system that is resource-efficient, environmentally friendly, safe and seamless) with EUR 34.6 million in commitments and; Item 15 02 01 01 (Promoting excellence and cooperation in the European education and training area and its relevance to the labour market) with EUR 20 million in commitments.

On 3 September 2019, the Council adopted its position on DAB No 2 to the general budget for 2019 as set out in the technical annex to its explanatory memorandum.

PURPOSE: presentation of the draft amending budget No 2 to the general budget 2019 with a view to reinforcing the key programmes for EU competitiveness: Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+.

CONTENT: Draft Amending Budget (DAB) No 2/2019 is intended to provide an additional EUR 100 million of commitment appropriations to Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+ as decided by the European Parliament and the Council in their agreement on the budget 2019 . No reinforcement in payment appropriations is proposed.

Reinforcement of Horizon 2020 Horizon 2020

Whilst the expenditure for climate change shows a considerable increase compared to the 7th Framework Programme for Research Funding 2007-2013 (FP7), specific measures should be reinforced with the aim of approaching the target of 35 % of the overall Horizon 2020 budget devoted to climate-related research activities.

It is therefore proposed to allocate an additional EUR 80 million to activities and projects in that area, more specifically for transport-related research and Future Emerging Technologies under the European Innovation Council (EIC) Pilot.

Reinforcement of Erasmus+

Erasmus+ is the EU's programme supporting education, training, youth and sport in Europe. The programme will provide opportunities for over 4 million Europeans to study, train, and gain experience abroad over the 2014-20 period. The Commission proposes to allocate an additional EUR 20 million to Eramus+ budget item 15 02 01 01 - Promoting excellence and cooperation in the European education and training area and its relevance to the labour market.

The allocation would reinforce EU funding support for core mobility activities of the programme, in particular in the field of higher education and vocational education and training, as well as for centres of vocational excellence. It will also reinforce European Universities, a recent action developed in the framework of the European Education Area by 2025.

Financing

Given the absence of margin under the commitments ceiling of heading 1a Competitiveness for growth and jobs in the general budget 2019, the reinforcement in commitment appropriations of Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+ will be financed from the Global Margin for Commitments.

The Commission considers that the payment appropriations for these two programmes in the 2019 budget do not need to be increased at this stage.