PURPOSE: definitive adoption of amending budget No 3 of the European Union for the financial year 2018.

LEGISLATIVE ACT: Definitive adoption (EU, Euratom) 2018/1141 of amending budget No 3 of the European Union for the financial year 2018.

CONTENT: Parliament noted that amending budget No 3 of the European Union for the 2018 financial year had been definitively adopted.

The amending budget provides for the financing in 2018 of the extension of the refugee facility in Turkey for an amount of EUR 500 million in commitment appropriations through the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance. The corresponding appropriations are allocated to budget line 22.02.03.02 (Turkey – Support for economic, social and territorial development and related progressive alignment with the Union acquis).

The European Parliament adopted, by 548 votes to 70, with 61 abstentions, a resolution on the Council position on Draft amending budget No 3/2018 of the European Union for the financial year 2018, Section III - Commission: extension of the facility for refugees in Turkey.

Members recalled that the Commission amended on 14 March 2018 its decision on the Facility for Refugees (FRT) in Turkey in order to allocate an additional EUR 3 billion (a ‘second tranche’) to the FRT, in line with the EU-Turkey Statement of 18 March 2016.

Draft amending budget No 3/2018 aims to add EUR 500 million in commitment appropriations to the 2018 Union budget as the 2018 Union contribution to the second tranche, in addition to the EUR 50 million financed from the existing Humanitarian Aid budgetary envelope in 2018.

Parliament has consistently stressed its support for the continuation of the FRT while emphasising that, as one of the two arms of the budgetary authority, it must be fully associated with the decision-making process relating to the extension of the FRT, inter alia to avoid the repetition of the procedure of its setting-up; whereas no negotiations on the financing of the second tranche of the FRT have so far taken place between Parliament and the Council.

Parliament took note of Draft amending budget No 3/2018 as submitted by the Commission while deploring the discrepancy between the absence of Parliament’s involvement in the adoption of the decisions on the setting-up and on the prolongation of the FRT on the one hand, and its role as budgetary authority in the financing of the FRT from the Union budget on the other hand.

Members regretted that the Commission did not include the 2018 financing of the FRT in its 2018 draft budget at any stage of the 2018 budgetary procedure. They believed that such inclusion would have been an opportunity for the two arms of the budgetary authority to discuss the financing of the whole second tranche of the FRT, as the positions of Parliament and of the Council diverge on the scale of the Union budget contribution.

The resolution urged the Commission to reinforce the monitoring of the use of the FRT and to report regularly and in sufficient detail to the budgetary authority on the compatibility of the actions financed with the underlying legal basis in general and the types of actions listed in the Commission Decision establishing the FRT.

Parliament noted that the purpose of Draft amending budget No 3/2018 is primarily to allow for the schooling of refugee children in Turkey to continue seamlessly. It approved the Council position on Draft amending budget No 3/2018.

Members stressed that this decision is without prejudice to its position on the remaining part of the financing of the second tranche of the FRT. Irrespective of the Council’s deliberations on the prolongation of the FRT, Parliament will fully retain its prerogatives through the 2019 budgetary procedure.

The Committee on Budgets adopted the Siegfried report MUREŞAN (EPP, RO) on the Council position on Draft amending budget No 3/2018 of the European Union for the financial year 2018, Section III - Commission: extension of the facility for refugees in Turkey (FRT).

The committee took note of the Draft amending budget No 3/2018 as submitted by the Commission, which is devoted solely to the financing of the 2018 Union budget contribution to the FRT, for an amount of EUR 500 million in commitment appropriations, and of the Council´s position thereon.

Members deplored the discrepancy between the absence of Parliament’s involvement in the adoption of the decisions on the setting-up and on the prolongation of the FRT on one hand, and its role as budgetary authority in the financing of the FRT from the Union budget.

They regretted that the Commission did not include the 2018 financing of the FRT in its 2018 draft budget at any stage of the 2018 budgetary procedure.

Members noted that the purpose of Draft amending budget No 3/2018 is primarily to allow for the schooling of refugee children in Turkey to continue seamlessly. They approved the Council position on Draft amending budget No 3/2018.

The report stressed that this decision is without prejudice to its position on the remaining part of the financing of the second tranche of the FRT. Irrespective of the Council’s deliberations on the prolongation of the FRT, Parliament will fully retain its prerogatives through the 2019 budgetary procedure.

On 23 May 2018, the Commission submitted to the Council draft amending budget (DAB) No 3 to the general budget for 2018.

This DAB provides the financing in 2018 of the extension of the Facility for Refugees in Turkey for an amount of EUR 500 million in commitment appropriations to be channelled through the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance. The corresponding appropriations are to be recorded under budget line 22 02 03 02 (Support to Turkey - Support for economic, social and territorial development and related progressive alignment with the Union acquis).

On 22 June 2018, the Council adopted its position on DAB No 3 to the general budget for 2018 as set out in the technical annex to its explanatory memorandum.

On 23 May 2018, the Commission submitted to the Council draft amending budget (DAB) No 3 to the general budget for 2018.

This DAB provides the financing in 2018 of the extension of the Facility for Refugees in Turkey for an amount of EUR 500 million in commitment appropriations to be channelled through the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance. The corresponding appropriations are to be recorded under budget line 22 02 03 02 (Support to Turkey - Support for economic, social and territorial development and related progressive alignment with the Union acquis).

On 22 June 2018, the Council adopted its position on DAB No 3 to the general budget for 2018 as set out in the technical annex to its explanatory memorandum.

PURPOSE: to present Draft Amending Budget (DAB) No 3/2018 (extension of the refugee facility in Turkey).

CONTENT: this DAB provides for the financing in 2018 of the extension of the Refugee Facility in Turkey for an amount of EUR 500 million in commitment appropriations to the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance to the budget line 22 02 03 02 - Turkey - Support for economic, social and territorial development and related progressive alignment with the Union acquis .

This funding is needed in order to ensure a seamless follow up of successful Facility interventions funded under the first tranche , notably in order to be able to continue paying the salaries for over 5 000 teachers who so far have provided education to over 300 000 refugee children in Turkey.

As a reminder, the Commission Decision on the Facility for Refugees in Turkey was amended on 14 March 2018 in order to allocate an additional EUR 3 billion (a 'second tranche') to the Facility over the period 2018–2019.

The present draft amending budget proposes to add EUR 500 million in commitment appropriations as the EU contribution to the second tranche to the EU budget in 2018, in addition to the EUR 50 million financed from the existing Humanitarian Aid budgetary envelope in 2018. The remaining EU budget contribution to the Facility will be proposed under the 2019 draft budget.