The European Parliament adopted by 593 votes to 16, with 12 abstentions, a resolution approving the Council's position on draft amending budget No 4/2022 of the European Union for the financial year 2022.

The main purpose of draft amending budget (DAB) No 4/2022 is to update the revenue side of the budget to take account of recent developments, namely the updated forecast of own resources for the 2022 budget, approved by the advisory committee on own resources (ACOR) on 23 May 2022, and the update of other revenues such as the UK contribution, fines and others.

The DAB also includes two specific expenditure-related adjustments corresponding to an adaptation of the budget nomenclature following the Commission proposal of 18 May 2022 on REPowerEU and the extension of Eurojust's mandate to collect and preserve evidence of war crimes.

No additional commitment or payment appropriations are required.

Highlighting the increase in genuine own resources of EUR 3 573.9 million, Parliament called for the introduction of new own resources to be accelerated so that the additional revenue from new own resources would be sufficient to cover at least the repayment of costs of the Recovery Instrument.

Members regretted that, in spite of Parliament's insistence, the Commission had decided to present elements related to the update of revenue with other elements related to ongoing negotiations. To better respect the prerogative of the budgetary authority , Members considered that the Commission should present a draft amending budget for one purpose only and refrain from combining several purposes in one draft amending budget.

Parliament welcomed the swift adoption of Regulation (EU) 2022/838 to extend Eurojust's mandate to support Ukraine in collecting, preserving and analysing evidence of war crimes following Russia's brutal and unjustified aggression. However, Members objected 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. They stressed, in this context, that there are sufficient margins under Heading 2b.

Parliament also reaffirmed its long-standing position that increasing tasks and responsibilities for agencies must be accompanied by corresponding levels of fresh resources.

The Council adopted its position on the draft amending budget No 4 to the general budget for 2022: entering the surplus of the financial year 2021.

As a reminder, on 1 July 2022, the Commission submitted to the Council draft amending budget (DAB) No 4 to the general budget for 2022 which aims to update the revenue side of the budget to take account of the latest developments: (i) the updated own resources forecasts for the budget 2022 agreed by the Advisory Committee on Own Resources (ACOR) on 23 May 2022; (ii) to update other revenues such as the United Kingdom contribution, fines and other.

In addition, DAB No 4/2022 includes two specific adjustments related to expenditure:

- adjustment of the budgetary nomenclature following the new possibilities for Member States to transfer resources of their initial European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Cohesion Fund (CF), European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) and European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) allocations to the REPowerEU chapter of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) following the Commission proposal for REPowerEU on 18 May 2022;

- the additional staff requested for Eurojust following the extension of its mandate to collect and preserve war crime evidence.

The related appropriations in 2022 will be financed through internal redeployment, and therefore no additional financing is required for this purpose.

On 20 September 2022, the Council adopted its position on DAB No 4 to the general budget for 2022 as set out in the technical annex to its explanatory memorandum.

The Council adopted its position on the draft amending budget No 4 to the general budget for 2022: entering the surplus of the financial year 2021.

As a reminder, on 1 July 2022, the Commission submitted to the Council draft amending budget (DAB) No 4 to the general budget for 2022 which aims to update the revenue side of the budget to take account of the latest developments: (i) the updated own resources forecasts for the budget 2022 agreed by the Advisory Committee on Own Resources (ACOR) on 23 May 2022; (ii) to update other revenues such as the United Kingdom contribution, fines and other.

In addition, DAB No 4/2022 includes two specific adjustments related to expenditure:

- adjustment of the budgetary nomenclature following the new possibilities for Member States to transfer resources of their initial European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Cohesion Fund (CF), European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) and European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) allocations to the REPowerEU chapter of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) following the Commission proposal for REPowerEU on 18 May 2022;

- the additional staff requested for Eurojust following the extension of its mandate to collect and preserve war crime evidence.

The related appropriations in 2022 will be financed through internal redeployment, and therefore no additional financing is required for this purpose.

On 20 September 2022, the Council adopted its position on DAB No 4 to the general budget for 2022 as set out in the technical annex to its explanatory memorandum.

PURPOSE: to present Draft Amending Budget (DAB) No. 4 to the General Budget 2022 - Update of revenue (own resources) and other technical adjustments.

CONTENT: the main purpose of DAB 4 for the year 2022 is to update the revenue side of the budget to take account of recent developments.

Update of revenue

The adjustments to the revenue side of the budget are necessary to update the estimates for traditional own resources (TOR) as well as for own resources based on value added tax (VAT), non-recycled plastic packaging waste (PPW) and gross national income (GNI) , taking into account the spring economic forecast.

The Commission proposes to revise the financing of the budget on the basis of more recent economic forecasts. This revision concerns the forecasts for the TOR to be paid into the budget in 2022, as well as the forecasts for the VAT, PPW and GNI bases in 2022.

The economic scenario underlying the 2022 budget is broadly confirmed by the latest estimates:

- total customs duties to be collected in 2022, net of 25 % collection costs, are forecast at EUR 20 479.8 million , which represents an increase of 14.3 % compared with the forecast of EUR 17 912.6 million included in the 2022 budget;

- the total 2022 EU uncapped VAT base is now forecast at EUR 6 588 601.0 million , which represents an increase of 3.2 % compared to the May 2021 forecast of EUR 6 384 062.6 million. The total 2022 EU capped VAT base is forecast at EUR 6 571 411.1 million, which represents an increase of 3.4 % compared to the May 2021 forecast of EUR 6 357 129.3 million;

- the forecast of non-recycled plastic packaging waste in the EU amounts to EUR 8 840 522.1 tonnes in 2022 , which is an increase of 5.4 % compared to the May 2021 forecast of 8 388 536.2 tonnes. The corresponding Member States contributions from the plastic packaging waste is presented the accompanying budgetary annex;

- the total 2022 EU GNI base is forecast at EUR 15 493 666.4 million , which is an increase of 4.2 % compared to the May 2021 forecast of EUR 14 874 288.2 million.

Other revenue

In addition, the amount of other revenue is updated to take into account the revised UK contribution , the fines and periodic penalty payments definitively collected until June 2022, as well as the contribution of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in respect of the reimbursement to the UK of its share of the net assets.

- the UK contribution is based on the UK share, which is calculated as the ratio between the own resources made available by the United Kingdom in the years 2014 to 2020 and the own resources made available during that period by all Member States including the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom’s share was adjusted in 2022 in accordance with the Withdrawal Agreement. The definitive share of the United Kingdom has been set at 12,431681219587700 %;

- EUR 440.5 million in fines and periodic penalty payments were collected between 1 January and 1 June 2022. In accordance with the provisions of the withdrawal agreement, the United Kingdom is entitled to receive its share of EUR 281 million. It is therefore proposed to increase the initial forecast of EUR 101 million entered in the 2022 budget by EUR 339.5 million .

Update of expenditure

Additionally, DAB 4/2022 includes two specific adjustments related to expenditure:

- adjustment of the budgetary nomenclature following the new possibilities for Member States to transfer resources of their initial European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Cohesion Fund (CF), European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) and European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) allocations to the REPowerEU chapter of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) following the Commission proposal for REPowerEU on 18 May 2022;

- the additional staff requested for Eurojust following the extension of its mandate to collect and preserve war crime evidence 8 . The related appropriations in 2022 will be financed through internal redeployment, and therefore no additional financing is required for this purpose.

No additional commitment and payment appropriations are requested under the 2022 budget. The revenue side of the budget is proposed to be adjusted as set out in this DAB 4/2022.