The European Parliament adopted by 553 votes to 106, with 29 abstentions, a resolution on the proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on the mobilisation of the Contingency Margin in 2020 to continue humanitarian support to refugees in Turkey.

Parliament approved the decision annexed to this resolution in which it agreed to the mobilisation, in connection to financing included in Draft amending budget No 5 to the general budget of the European Union for 2020, of the Contingency Margin for an amount of EUR 481 572 239 in commitment appropriations over and above the commitment ceiling of heading 4 (Global Europe) of the multiannual financial framework.

It stated that the amount shall be offset against the margins under the commitment ceiling for the financial year 2020 of the following headings of the multiannual financial framework: (i) heading 5 (Administration): EUR 16 248 368; (ii) heading 2 (Sustainable growth: natural resources): EUR 465 323 871.

PURPOSE: to mobilise the Contingency Margin in 2020 to continue humanitarian support to refugees in Turkey

CONTENT: Council Regulation (EU, EURATOM) No 1311/2013 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2014-2020 (MFF Regulation) allows for the mobilisation of the Contingency Margin of up to 0.03 % of Gross National Income for the EU-28 to react to unforeseen circumstances as a last resort instrument. In the technical adjustment of the MFF for 2020, the absolute amount of the Contingency Margin for the year 2020 is set at EUR 5 096.8 million.

The Commission presented Draft Amending Budget (DAB) No 5/2020 to continue providing support to refugees and host communities in response to the Syria crisis in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.

Under heading 4 (Global Europe), the Commission proposes in this DAB to allocate, in commitment appropriations, EUR 100 million as resilience support to refugees and host communities in Jordan and Lebanon and EUR 485 million to ensure the continuation of the urgent humanitarian support to refugees in Turkey.

After having carried out a detailed analysis of the possibility to reallocate significant amounts within heading 4 (Global Europe), the Commission concluded that there is no room for redeployments in 2020. The unallocated margin still available under this heading (EUR 103.4 million) just allows the financing of EUR 100 million in commitment appropriations to support for resilience to host communities in Jordan and Lebanon. The remaining portion of this margin (EUR 3.4 million) is however largely insufficient to cover the urgent humanitarian support to refugees in Turkey.

Because of the full exhaustion of the envelopes of the other two special instruments of the MFF Regulation (Global Margin for Commitments and Flexiblity Instrument), the Commission proposes, as a last resort, to mobilise the Contingency Margin for 2020 for an amount of EUR 481.6 million to ensure the full financing of commitment appropriations related to expenditure under heading 4 in the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2020, over and above the commitment ceiling.

Offsetting the contingency margin against MFF ceilings

The Commission proposes that the amount of EUR 481 572 239 shall be offset against the margins under the commitment ceiling for the financial year 2020 of the following heading of the multiannual financial framework: (a) heading 5 (Administration): EUR 16 248 368; (b) heading 2 (Sustainable growth: natural resources): EUR 465 323 871.

After the offsetting, a margin of EUR 48.7 million would still remain available under the expenditure ceiling of heading 2 (Sustainable growth: natural resources). No margin would remain available under the other expenditure ceilings. The overall commitment ceiling for the whole MFF would remain unchanged.