Changes from plenary report to adopted text

Added24. Each year, the High Representative shall consult the European Parliament on a forwardlooking document, which shall be transmitted by 15 June of the year in question, setting out the main aspects and basic choices of the CFSP, including the financial implications for the Union budget, an evaluation of the measures launched in year n-1 and an assessment of the coordination and complementarity of CFSP with the Union's other external financial instruments. Furthermore, the High Representative shall keep the European Parliament regularly informed by holding joint consultation meetings at least five times a year, in the framework of the regular political dialogue on the CFSP, to be agreed at the latest on 30 November each year. Participation in those meetings shall be determined by the European Parliament and by the Council respectively, bearing in mind the objective, and the nature of the information exchanged in those meetings.

AddedThe Commission shall be invited to participate in those meetings.

AddedIf the Council adopts a decision in the field of the CFSP entailing expenditure, the High Representative shall immediately, and in any event no later than five working days thereafter, send the European Parliament an estimate of the costs envisaged (a "financial statement"), in particular those costs regarding time-frame, staff employed, use of premises and other infrastructure, transport facilities, training requirements and security arrangements.

AddedOnce a quarter, the Commission shall inform the European Parliament and the Council about the implementation of CFSP actions and the financial forecasts for the remainder of the financial year.

AddedE. INVOLVEMENT OF THE INSTITUTIONS AS REGARDS DEVELOPMENT POLICY ISSUES

Added25. The Commission shall establish an informal dialogue with the European Parliament on development policy issues.

AddedPART III

AddedSOUND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT OF UNION FUNDS

AddedA. FINANCIAL PROGRAMMING

Added26. The Commission shall submit twice a year, the first time together with the documents accompanying the draft budget and the second time after the adoption of the general budget of the Union, a complete financial programming for headings 1, 2 (except for the sub-heading "Economic, social and territorial cohesion"), 3 (for "Environment and climate action" and "Maritime policy and fisheries"), 4, 5 and 6 of the MFF. That programming, structured by heading, policy area and budget line, should identify:

Added(a) the legislation in force, with a distinction being drawn between multiannual programmes and annual actions:

Added(i) for multiannual programmes, the Commission should indicate the procedure under which they were adopted (ordinary or special legislative procedure), their duration, the total financial envelope and the share allocated to administrative expenditure;

Added(ii) for multiannual programmes referred to in Annex II to the MFF Regulation, the Commission should indicate transparently the additional allocations under Article 5 of the MFF Regulation;

Added(iii) for annual actions (relating to pilot projects, preparatory actions and agencies) and actions financed under the prerogatives of the Commission, the Commission should provide multiannual estimates;

Added(b) pending legislative proposals: ongoing Commission proposals, with the latest update.

AddedThe Commission should consider ways of cross-referencing the financial programming with its legislative programming to provide more precise and reliable forecasts. For each legislative proposal, the Commission should indicate whether it is included in the programming communicated at the time of the presentation of the draft budget or after the final adoption of the budget. The Commission should inform the European Parliament and the Council in particular of:

Added(a) all new legislative acts adopted and all pending proposals presented but not included in programming communicated at the time of the draft budget or after the final adoption of the budget (with the corresponding amounts);

Added(b) legislation foreseen in the Commission's annual legislative work programme, with an indication of whether the actions are likely to have a financial impact.

AddedWhenever necessary, the Commission should indicate the reprogramming entailed by new legislative proposals.

AddedB. AGENCIES AND EUROPEAN SCHOOLS

Added27. Before presenting a proposal for the creation of a new agency, the Commission should produce a sound, complete and objective impact assessment, taking into account, inter alia, the critical mass of staff and competencies, cost-benefit aspects, subsidiarity and proportionality, the impact on national and Union activities, and the budgetary implications for the expenditure heading concerned. On the basis of that information and without prejudice to the legislative procedures governing the setting up of the agency, the European Parliament and the Council commit themselves, in the framework of budgetary cooperation, to arrive at a timely agreement on the financing of the proposed agency.

AddedThe following procedural steps shall be applied:

Addedfirstly, the Commission shall systematically present any proposal for setting up a new agency to the first trilogue following the adoption of its proposal, and shall present the financial statement accompanying the legislative proposal for the creation of the agency and shall illustrate the consequences thereof for the remaining period of the financial programming;

Addedsecondly, during the legislative process, the Commission shall assist the legislator in assessing the financial consequences of the amendments proposed. Those financial consequences should be considered during the relevant legislative trilogues;

Addedthirdly, before the conclusion of the legislative process, the Commission shall present an updated financial statement taking into account potential amendments by the legislator; that final financial statement shall be placed on the agenda of the final legislative trilogue and formally endorsed by the legislator. It shall also be placed on the agenda of a subsequent budgetary trilogue (in urgent cases, in simplified form), in view of reaching an agreement on the financing;

Addedfourthly, the agreement reached during a trilogue, taking into account the Commission's budgetary assessment with regard to the content of the legislative process, shall be confirmed in a joint declaration. That agreement shall be subject to approval by the European Parliament and by the Council, each in accordance with its own rules of procedure.

AddedThe same procedure would be applied to any amendment to a legal act concerning an agency which would have an impact on the resources of the agency in question.

AddedShould the tasks of an agency be altered substantially without an amendment to the legal act setting up the agency in question, the Commission shall inform the European Parliament and the Council by means of a revised financial statement, so as to allow the European Parliament and the Council to arrive at a timely agreement on the financing of the agency.

Added28. Relevant provisions from the Common Approach annexed to the Joint Statement of the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission on decentralised agencies signed on 19 July 2012 should be duly taken into account in the budgetary procedure.

Added29. When the creation of a new European school is envisaged by the Board of Governors, a similar procedure is to be applied, mutatis mutandis, for its budgetary implications on the Union budget.

AddedPART IV

AddedPROTECTION OF THE UNION BUDGET: QUALITY AND COMPARABILITY OF DATA ON BENEFICIARIES

Added30. In line with the requests of the European Parliament and in response to point 24 of the European Council conclusions of 17 to 21 July 2020, in order to enhance the protection of the Union budget and the European Union Recovery Instrument against fraud and irregularities, the Institutions agree on the introduction of standardised measures to collect, compare and aggregate information and figures on the final recipients and beneficiaries of Union funding, for the purposes of control and audit.

Added31. To ensure effective controls and audits, it is necessary to collect data on those ultimately benefitting, directly or indirectly, from Union funding under shared management and from projects and reforms supported under Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a Recovery and Resilience Facility, including data on beneficial owners of the recipients of the funding. The rules related to the collection and processing of such data will have to comply with applicable data protection rules.

Added32. To enhance the protection of the Union budget, the Commission will make available an integrated and interoperable information and monitoring system, including a single data-mining and risk-scoring tool, to access and analyse the data referred to in point 31 with a view to a generalised application by Member States. That system would ensure efficient checks on conflicts of interests, irregularities, issues of double funding, and any misuse of the funds. The Commission, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and other Union investigative and control bodies should have the necessary access to that data in order to exercise their supervisory functions in relation to the controls and audits that are to be carried out by the Member States in the first place to detect irregularities and conduct administrative investigations into the misuse of the Union funding concerned, and to get a precise overview of its distribution.

Added33. Without prejudice to the prerogatives of the Institutions under the Treaties, in the course of the legislative procedure relating to the relevant basic acts, the Institutions undertake to sincerely cooperate to ensure the follow-up to the European Council conclusions of 17 to 21 July 2020, in line with the approach described in this Part.

AddedDone at Brussels,

AddedFor the European Parliament For the Council For the Commission

AddedThe President The President The President

AddedANNEX I

AddedINTERINSTITUTIONAL COOPERATION DURING THE BUDGETARY PROCEDURE

AddedPart A. Calendar of the budgetary procedure

Added1. The Institutions shall agree a pragmatic calendar each year in due time before the start of the budgetary procedure on the basis of present practice.

Added2. In order to ensure that the European Parliament and the Council are able to exercise their budgetary prerogatives in an effective manner, budgetary positions, transfers or other notifications entailing the activation of deadlines shall be submitted taking due account of any recess periods, the dates of which those institutions have informed each other in due time through their respective services.

AddedPart B. Priorities for the budgetary procedure

Added3. In due time before the Commission adopts the draft budget, a trilogue shall be convened to discuss the possible priorities for the budget of the coming financial year and any questions arising from the implementation of the budget of the current financial year, on the basis of the information provided by the Commission in accordance with point 37.

AddedPart C. Establishment of the draft budget and updating of estimates

Added4. The institutions, other than the Commission, are invited to adopt their statement of estimates before the end of March.

Added5. The Commission shall, each year, present a draft budget showing the Union's actual financing requirements.

AddedIt shall take into account:

Added(a) forecasts provided by the Member States in relation to the Structural Funds;

Added(b) the capacity for utilising appropriations, while endeavouring to maintain a strict relationship between appropriations for commitments and appropriations for payments;

Added(c) possibilities for starting up new policies through pilot projects, new preparatory actions or both, or for continuing multiannual actions which are coming to an end, after assessing whether it is possible to secure a basic act, within the meaning of the Financial Regulation (definition of a basic act, necessity of a basic act for implementation and exceptions);

Added(d) the need to ensure that any change in expenditure in relation to the previous year is in accordance with the constraints of budgetary discipline.

Added6. The Institutions shall, as far as possible, avoid entering items in the budget involving insignificant amounts of expenditure on operations.

Added7. The European Parliament and the Council also undertake to bear in mind the assessment of the possibilities for implementing the budget made by the Commission in its drafts and in connection with the implementation of the budget for the current financial year.

Added8. In the interests of sound financial management and owing to the effect of major changes in the titles and chapters of the budget nomenclature on the management reporting responsibilities of Commission departments, the European Parliament and the Council undertake to discuss any major changes with the Commission during the conciliation.

Added9. In the interest of loyal and sound institutional cooperation, the European Parliament and the Council commit to maintaining regular and active contacts at all levels, through their respective negotiators, throughout the whole budgetary procedure and, in particular, during the whole conciliation period with a view to reaching an agreement. The European Parliament and the Council undertake to ensure the timely and constant mutual exchange of relevant information and documents at both formal and informal levels, as well as to hold technical or informal meetings as needed, during the conciliation period, in cooperation with the Commission. The Commission shall ensure timely and equal access to information and documents for the European Parliament and for the Council.

Added10. Until such time as the Conciliation Committee is convened, the Commission may, if necessary, submit letters of amendment to the draft budget in accordance with Article 314(2) TFEU, including a letter of amendment updating, in particular expenditure estimates for agriculture. The Commission shall submit information on updates to the European Parliament and to the Council for their consideration as soon as it is available. It shall supply the European Parliament and the Council with all the duly justified reasons they may require.

AddedPart D. Budgetary procedure before the conciliation procedure