The European Parliament adopted by 641 votes to 36, with 8 abstentions, a resolution approving the Council position on Draft amending budget No 3/2021 of the European Union for the financial year 2021 - entering the surplus of the financial year 2020.

Parliament took note of the draft amending budget No 3/2021 presented by the Commission, which aims to enter in the 2021 budget the surplus from the financial year 2020, corresponding to EUR 1 768 617 610 . This surplus is mainly composed of a positive outturn of EUR 1 647.3 million and an under-spending of expenditure of EUR 121.3 million.

On the revenue side, the surplus is predominantly driven by a higher than expected collection of customs duties.

On the expenditure side, under-implementation in payments by the Commission reaches EUR 100.98 million for 2020 (of which EUR 61.7 million under Heading 5 - Administration, attributable to COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on missions, meetings, traineeships and recruitments), and EUR 120.38 million the under-implementation by the other institutions.

Parliament reiterated its position that all available means and unused funds in the EU budget, including the surplus, should be used to provide rapid financial assistance to those most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Member States were invited to devote the expected reductions in their GNI-based contributions stemming from the 2020 surplus entirely to the budgeting of actions related to tackling the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and to the recovery and resilience of the Union, to ensure an optimal allocation of the funds.

PURPOSE: presentation by the European Commission of Draft Amending Budget (DAB) No 3/2021 to the 2021 General Budget.

CONTENT: Draft amending budget (DAB) No 3/2021 aims to enter in the 2021 budget the surplus resulting from the implementation of the 2020 budget year. The execution of the financial year 2020 shows a surplus of EUR 1 768 617 610, which is therefore entered as revenue in the 2021 budget.

Budgeting the surplus will reduce the total contribution of the Member States to the financing of the 2021 budget accordingly.

The combined net variations in Title 1 (Own Resources) and Title 3 (Surpluses, balances and adjustments) totals EUR 1 375 million. The additional amount budgeted for exchange rate differences (under title 3) more or less covers the shortfall in VAT and GNI own resources under title 1. Therefore, the surplus is predominantly driven by a higher than expected collection of customs duties.

The variations in Title 7 (Default interest and fines) amounts to EUR 268 million, which comprises competition fines and default interest, other penalty payments and interest linked to fines and penalty payments.

The Commission implemented 99.9 % of the authorised payment appropriations. The amount not implemented was EUR 101 million, of which EUR 62 million under Heading 5 - Administration that is attributable to the exceptional circumstances prevailing in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic, which had a direct impact on the number of missions, meetings, traineeships and recruitments.

The under-implementation of the other institutions of EUR 120 million is slightly higher than in 2019 (EUR 82 million).