Changes from plenary report to adopted text

Added11. A trilogue shall be convened in due time before the Council's reading, to allow the Institutions to exchange their views on the draft budget.

Added12. In order for the Commission to be able to assess in due time the executability of amendments, envisaged by the European Parliament and by the Council, which create new preparatory actions or pilot projects or which prolong existing ones, the European Parliament and the Council shall inform the Commission of their intentions in that regard, so that a first discussion may already take place at that trilogue.

Added13. A trilogue may be convened before the votes in plenary of the European Parliament.

AddedPart E. Conciliation procedure

Added14. If the European Parliament adopts amendments to the Council's position, the President of the Council shall, during the same plenary sitting, take note of the differences in the position of the two institutions and give his/her agreement for the President of the European Parliament to convene the Conciliation Committee immediately. The letter convening the Conciliation Committee shall be sent at the latest on the first working day of the week following the end of the parliamentary part-session during which the plenary vote was delivered, and the conciliation period shall start on the following day. The 21-day period shall be calculated in accordance with Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 1182/71 of the Council.

Added15. If the Council cannot agree on all the amendments adopted by the European Parliament, it should confirm its position by letter sent before the first meeting foreseen during the conciliation period. In such case, the Conciliation Committee shall proceed in accordance with the conditions laid down in the following points.

Added16. The Conciliation Committee shall be chaired jointly by representatives of the European Parliament and of the Council. Meetings of the Conciliation Committee shall be chaired by the co-chair from the institution hosting the meeting. Each institution, in accordance with its own rules of procedure, shall designate its participants for each meeting and set out its mandate for the negotiations. The European Parliament and the Council shall be represented at an appropriate level in the Conciliation Committee, such that each delegation can commit politically its respective institution, and that actual progress towards the final agreement may be made.

Added17. In accordance with the second subparagraph of Article 314(5) TFEU, the Commission shall take part in the Conciliation Committee's proceedings and shall take all the necessary initiatives with a view to reconciling the positions of the European Parliament and of the Council.

Added18. Trilogues shall take place throughout the conciliation procedure, at different levels of representation, with the aim of resolving outstanding issues and preparing the ground for an agreement to be reached in the Conciliation Committee.

Added19. Meetings of the Conciliation Committee and trilogues shall be held alternately at the premises of the European Parliament and of the Council, with a view to an equal sharing of facilities, including interpretation facilities.

Added20. The dates of the meetings of the Conciliation Committee and the trilogues shall be set in advance by agreement of the Institutions.

Added21. A common set of documents ("input documents") comparing the various steps of the budgetary procedure shall be made available to the Conciliation Committee. Those documents shall include "line by line" figures, totals by MFF headings and a consolidated document with figures and remarks for all budget lines deemed technically "open". Without prejudice to the final decision of the Conciliation Committee, a specific document shall list all budget lines deemed technically closed. Those documents shall be classified by budgetary nomenclature.

AddedOther documents shall also be attached to the input documents for the Conciliation Committee, including a letter of executability from the Commission on the Council's position and the European Parliament's amendments, and any letters from other institutions concerning the Council's position or the European Parliament's amendments.

Added22. With a view to reaching agreement by the end of the conciliation period, trilogues shall:

Added(a) define the scope of the negotiations on the budgetary issues to be addressed;

Added(b) endorse the list of the budget lines deemed technically closed, subject to the final agreement on the entire budget of the financial year;

Added(c) discuss issues identified under point (a) with a view to reaching possible agreements to be endorsed by the Conciliation Committee;

Added(d) address thematic issues, including by headings of the MFF.

AddedTentative conclusions shall be drawn jointly during or immediately after each trilogue, and, simultaneously, the agenda of the following meeting shall be agreed. Those conclusions shall be registered by the institution hosting the trilogue and shall be deemed provisionally approved after 24 hours, without prejudice to the final decision of the Conciliation Committee.

Added23. The conclusions of trilogues and a document for possible endorsement shall be available to the Conciliation Committee at its meetings, together with the budget lines in respect of which an agreement has been tentatively reached during the trilogues.

Added24. The joint text provided for in Article 314(5) TFEU shall be established by the secretariats of the European Parliament and of the Council with the assistance of the Commission. It shall consist of a letter of transmission addressed by the chairs of the two delegations to the Presidents of the European Parliament and of the Council, containing the date of the agreement at the Conciliation Committee, and annexes which shall include:

Added(a) line by line figures for all budget items and summary figures by MFF headings;

Added(b) a consolidated document, indicating the figures and final text of all lines that have been amended during the conciliation procedure;

Added(c) the list of the lines not amended with regard to the draft budget or the Council's position on it.

AddedThe Conciliation Committee may also approve conclusions and possible joint statements in relation to the budget.

Added25. The joint text shall be translated into the official languages of the institutions of the Union (by the services of the European Parliament) and shall be submitted for approval of the European Parliament and of the Council within a period of 14 days from the date of the agreement on the joint text referred to point 24.

AddedThe budget shall be subject to legal-linguistic revision after the adoption of the joint text by integrating the annexes of the joint text with the budget lines not amended during the conciliation procedure.

Added26. The institution hosting the meeting (trilogue or conciliation) shall provide interpretation facilities with a full linguistic regime applicable to the Conciliation Committee meetings and an ad hoc linguistic regime for the trilogues.

AddedThe institution hosting the meeting shall provide for the copying and distribution of room documents.

AddedThe services of the Institutions shall cooperate in the encoding of the results of the negotiations in order to finalise the joint text.

AddedPart F. Amending budgets

AddedGeneral principles

Added27. Bearing in mind that amending budgets are frequently focused on specific and sometimes urgent issues, the Institutions agree on the following principles to ensure appropriate interinstitutional cooperation for a smooth and swift decision-making process for amending budgets while avoiding, insofar as possible, having to convene a conciliation meeting for amending budgets.

Added28. As far as possible, the Institutions shall endeavour to limit the number of amending budgets.

AddedCalendar

Added29. The Commission shall inform the European Parliament and the Council in advance of the possible dates of adoption of draft amending budgets, without prejudice to the final date of adoption.

Added30. The European Parliament and the Council, each in accordance with its internal rules of procedure, shall endeavour to examine the draft amending budget proposed by the Commission at an early opportunity after its adoption by the Commission.

Added31. In order to speed up the procedure, the European Parliament and the Council shall ensure that their respective calendars of work are coordinated as far as possible in order to enable proceedings to be conducted in a coherent and convergent way. They shall therefore seek as soon as possible to establish an indicative timetable for the various stages leading to the final adoption of the amending budget.

AddedThe European Parliament and the Council shall take into account the relative urgency of the amending budget and the need to approve it in due time to be effective during the financial year concerned.

AddedCooperation during the readings

Added32. The Institutions shall cooperate in good faith throughout the procedure, clearing the way, as far as possible, for the adoption of amending budgets at an early stage of the procedure.

AddedWhere appropriate, and when there is a potential divergence, the European Parliament or the Council, before each takes its final position on the amending budget, or the Commission at any time, may propose that a specific trilogue be convened to discuss the divergences and to try to reach a compromise.

Added33. All draft amending budgets proposed by the Commission and not yet finally approved shall be entered systematically on the agenda of trilogues planned for the annual budgetary procedure. The Commission shall present the draft amending budgets and the European Parliament and the Council shall, as far as possible, make known their respective positions ahead of the trilogue.

Added34. If a compromise is reached during a trilogue, the European Parliament and the Council undertake to consider the results of the trilogue when deliberating on the amending budget in accordance with the TFEU and their rules of procedure.

AddedCooperation after the readings

Added35. If the European Parliament approves the position of the Council without amendments, the amending budget shall be adopted in accordance with the TFEU.

Added36. If the European Parliament adopts amendments by a majority of its component members, point (c) of Article 314(4) TFEU shall apply. However, before the Conciliation Committee meets, a trilogue shall be called:

Added(a) if an agreement is reached during that trilogue and subject to the agreement of the European Parliament and of the Council on the results of the trilogue, the conciliation shall be closed by an exchange of letters without a meeting of the Conciliation Committee;

Added(b) if no agreement is reached during that trilogue, the Conciliation Committee shall meet and organise its work in accordance with the circumstances, with a view to completing the decision-making process as much as possible before the 21-day deadline laid down in Article 314(5) TFEU. The Conciliation Committee may conclude by an exchange of letters.

AddedPart G. Budget implementation, payments and reste à liquider (RAL)

Added37. Given the need to ensure an orderly progression of the total appropriations for payments in relation to the appropriations for commitments so as to avoid any abnormal shift of RAL from one year to another, the Institutions agree to monitor closely the payment forecasts and the level of the RAL so as to mitigate the risk of hampering the implementation of Union programmes because of a lack of payment appropriations at the end of the MFF.

AddedIn order to ensure a manageable level and profile for the payments in all headings, decommitment rules shall be applied strictly in all headings, in particular the rules for automatic de-commitments.

AddedIn the course of the budgetary procedure, the Institutions shall meet regularly with a view to jointly assessing the state of play and the outlook for budgetary implementation in the current and future financial years. That assessment shall take the form of dedicated interinstitutional meetings at the appropriate level, before which the Commission shall provide the detailed state of play, broken down by fund and Member State, on payment implementation, on transfers, on reimbursement claims received and revised forecasts, including longterm forecasts, where applicable. In particular, in order to ensure that the Union can fulfil all its financial obligations stemming from existing and future commitments in the period 20212027 in accordance with Article 323 TFEU, the European Parliament and the Council shall analyse and discuss the Commission's estimates as to the required level of payment appropriations.

AddedPart H. Cooperation as regards the European Union Recovery Instrument+

Added38. For the sole purpose of addressing the consequences of the COVID-19 crisis, the Commission will be empowered to borrow funds on capital markets on behalf of the Union up to EUR 750 000 million in 2018 prices, of which up to EUR 390 000 million in 2018 prices may be used for expenditure and up to EUR 360 000 million in 2018 prices may be used for providing loans in accordance with Article 5(1) of the Own Resources Decision. As provided for in the EURI Regulation, the amount to be used for expenditure constitutes external assigned revenue for the purposes of Article 21(5) of the Financial Regulation.

Added39. The Institutions agree that the role of the European Parliament and of the Council, where acting in their capacity of budgetary authority, needs to be enhanced in relation to the external assigned revenue under the European Union Recovery Instrument, with a view to ensuring a proper oversight of and involvement in the use of such revenue, within the limits set out in the EURI Regulation and, as appropriate, in the relevant sectoral legislation. The Institutions also agree on the need to ensure full transparency and visibility of all funds under the European Union Recovery Instrument.

AddedExternal assigned revenue under the European Union Recovery Instrument

Added40. Given the need to ensure an appropriate involvement of the European Parliament and of the Council in the governance of external assigned revenue under the European Union Recovery Instrument, the Institutions agree on the procedure set out in points 41 to 46.

Added41. The Commission will provide detailed information with its draft estimates in the context of the budgetary procedure. Such information shall include detailed estimates of commitment appropriations and payment appropriations as well as of legal commitments, broken down by heading and by programme that receives assigned revenue under the EURI Regulation. The Commission will provide any additional relevant information requested by the European Parliament or by the Council. The Commission will attach to the draft budget a document compiling all relevant information concerning the European Union Recovery Instrument, including summary tables aggregating budget appropriations and assigned revenue under the European Union Recovery Instrument. That document will be part of the annex to the general budget of the Union on external assigned revenue provided for in point 44.

Added42. The Commission will present regular updates of the information referred to in point 41 throughout the financial year and at least ahead of each dedicated meeting as referred to in point 45. The Commission will make the relevant information available to the European Parliament and to the Council in time to allow meaningful discussions and deliberations on corresponding planning documents, including before the Commission adopts relevant decisions.