PURPOSE: to enable a maximum use of funds to address the effects of the unprecedented public health crisis resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak.

PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council.

ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure on an equal footing with the Council.

BACKGROUND: the COVID-19 pandemic has consequences for migration, security and border management in the Member States. It requires that measures be taken to support Member States in the implementation of funds by strengthening the possibility to make full use of the available implementation period until the closure of the programmes on 31 December 2023.

In this respect, it is appropriate to ensure that the N+2 rule is fully used so as to provide Member States sufficient time for the implementation of their allocations and declaration of the expenditure to the Commission.

CONTENT: the proposal to amend Regulation (EU) No 514/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council aligns the deadlines for payment requests and decommitment and it adjusts the date of commitment of the additional allocations in 2018 and 2019, which have been granted to address unforeseen needs in the areas covered by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Funds and the Internal Security Fund.

The proposed amendment aims to ensure that:

- all payment requests covering the year N+2 submitted by Member State within the regulatory deadlines set out in Art. 44 of Regulation 514/2014 are taken into account when calculating the decommitment;

- the implementation period of the amounts corresponding to additional allocations to the national programmes provided in 2018 and 2019 is aligned with the implementation period of the initial allocation.