PURPOSE: definitive adoption of amending budget No 5/2018.

LEGISLATIVE ACT: Definitive adoption (EU, Euratom) 2018/1691 of Amending budget No 5 of the European Union for the financial year 2018.

CONTENT: Parliament stated that amending budget No 5 of the European Union for the 2018 financial year had been definitively adopted.

Amending budget No 5/2018 covers:

- the cancellation of the reserves of EUR 70 million in commitment appropriations and EUR 35 million in payment appropriations linked to assistance for Turkey from the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA II);

- the reinforcement of the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) in commitment appropriations (EUR 70 million) and humanitarian aid in payment appropriations (EUR 35 million);

- the strengthening of the establishment plan of the innovation and networks Executive Agency (INEA) in the context of the WiFi4EU initiative, which aims to provide, free of charge and without discriminatory conditions, high-quality Internet access to residents and visitors in centres of local public life.

The European Parliament approved the Council's position on the draft amending budget on 2 October 2018 (see the summary of the resolution dated the same day).

The European Parliament adopted by 544 votes to 28, with 74 abstentions, a resolution on the Council position on Draft amending budget No 5/2018 of the European Union for the financial year 2018, Section III – Commission: Cancellation of the reserve related to the support to Turkey from the Instrument for Pre-Accession (IPA II), reinforcement of the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) and of the Humanitarian Aid for other urgent actions and modification of the establishment plan of the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) in the context of the WiFi4EU initiative.

Members took note of Draft amending budget No 5/2018 presented by the Commission, which covers:

the cancellation of the reserves of EUR 70 million in commitment appropriations and EUR 35 million in payment appropriations linked to assistance for Turkey from the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA II), the reinforcement of the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) in commitment appropriations (EUR 70 million) and humanitarian aid in payment appropriations (EUR 35 million), and the strengthening of the establishment plan of the innovation and networks Executive Agency (INEA) in the context of the WiFi4EU initiative.

The European Parliament approved the Council position on Draft amending budget No 5/2018 . It expressed its concern at the continuing deterioration in fundamental rights and freedoms and the rule of law in Turkey and Turkey’s further drifting away from European values. It reiterated that any decision related to IPA II funding in Turkey should not be made to the detriment of Union support to Turkish civil society, which should be further increased.

Lastly, Members stressed the need to apply workable solutions along the Central Mediterranean migratory route, in cooperation with relevant international, national or regional authorities, and fully respecting international human rights standards with regard to the treatment of migrants.

The Committee on Budgets adopted the report by Siegfried MUREŞAN (EPP, RO) on the Council position on Draft amending budget No 5/2018 of the European Union for the financial year 2018, Section III – Commission: Cancellation of the reserve related to the support to Turkey from the Instrument for Pre-Accession (IPA II), reinforcement of the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) and of the Humanitarian Aid for other urgent actions and modification of the establishment plan of the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) in the context of the WiFi4EU initiative.

Members took note of Draft amending budget No 5/2018 presented by the Commission, which covers:

the cancellation of the reserves of EUR 70 million in commitment appropriations and EUR 35 million in payment appropriations linked to assistance for Turkey from the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA II), the reinforcement of the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) in commitment appropriations (EUR 70 million) and humanitarian aid in payment appropriations (EUR 35 million), and the strengthening of the establishment plan of the innovation and networks Executive Agency (INEA) in the context of the WiFi4EU initiative.

The committee responsible its concern at the continuing deterioration in fundamental rights and freedoms and the rule of law in Turkey and Turkey’s further drifting away from European values.

It recommended that the European Parliament approve the Council position on Draft amending budget No 5/2018.

On 10 July 2018, the Commission submitted to the Council draft amending budget (DAB) No 5 to the general budget for 2018 regarding the cancellation of the reserve related to the support to Turkey from the Instrument for Pre-Accession (IPA II), reinforcement of the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) and of the Humanitarian Aid for other urgent actions and modification of the establishment plan of the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) in the context of the WiFi4EU initiative.

The objectives of this proposal are to:

cancel the reserves of EUR 70 million in commitment appropriations (c/a) and of EUR 35 million in payment appropriations (p/a) related to Item 22 02 03 01 (Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance - Turkey Support for political reforms and related progressive alignment with the Union acquis); reinforce Item 22 04 01 03 (Mediterranean countries - Confidence building, security and the prevention and settlement of conflicts) with EUR 70 million in c/a and Article 23 02 01 (Delivery of rapid, effective and needs-based humanitarian aid and food assistance) with EUR 35 million in p/a; modify INEA's establishment plan adding one AD 7 temporary post.

The Council adopted its position on DAB No 5 to the general budget for 2018 as set out in the technical annex to the explanatory memorandum of its position on the draft amending budget (see Council document ).

PURPOSE: to present draft amending budget No 5 to the general budget 2018.

CONTENT: the purpose of draft amending budget (DAB) No 5 for the year 2018 is the following:

to cancel the reserve related to the support to Turkey from the Instrument for Pre-Accession (IPA II): as a reminder, in the context of the budgetary procedure 2018, the European Parliament and the Council decided to place in reserve EUR 70 million in commitment appropriations and EUR 35 million in payment appropriations on the budget item 22 02 03 01 Support for political reforms and related progressive alignment with the Union acquis. However, the condition set to release these amounts - namely sufficient progress by Turkey in the areas of the rule of law, democracy, human rights and freedom of the press - has not been met. It is consequently proposed to cancel fully the related amounts in reserve, both in commitment and payment appropriations, as well as the related budget remarks, and increase the European Neighbourhood instrument (ENI) and Humanitarian Aid instead; to reinforce by EUR 70 million, in commitment appropriations, the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) to fund additional actions linked to the Central Mediterranean migratory route and to fulfil part of the pledge made at the 24-25 April 2018 Brussels II conference ‘Supporting the future of Syria and the region’. No additional payment appropriations are needed in 2018 for these actions; to reinforce, in payment appropriations, the Humanitarian Aid to cover the needs in prefinancing payments as a result of the reinforcements in commitment appropriations, decided at the end of 2017:

- EUR 102 million from the Emergency Aid Reserve and other redeployments;

- EUR 22.8 million through the year-end transfer for Humanitarian aid in accordance with the Financial Regulation. Since the remaining contracts are being signed in 2018 and because the current level of payment appropriations in the budget 2018 is not sufficient to cover the related pre-financing payments, additional payment appropriations are needed. It is therefore proposed to add EUR 35 million in payment appropriations to the budget article 23 02 01 Delivery of rapid, effective and needs-based humanitarian aid and food assistance;

to modify the establishment plan of the Innovation & Networks Executive Agency (INEA) in the context of the WiFi4EU initiative: this initiative aims to provide, free of charge and without discriminatory conditions, high-quality Internet access to residents and visitors in the centres of local public life. Further to Commission Decision C(2018)1281 of 27 February 2018 delegating the implementation of the initiative to the Innovation & Networks Executive Agency (INEA), the agency should dispose of an adequate level of human resources to carry out the new tasks. It is proposed to amend the establishment plan of the Agency in order to add one post of temporary agent at grade AD7 . This amendment, increasing the total number of posts of INEA from 71 to 72 , can be financed within the Agency's budget for this year.

Overall this amending budget is neutral .