Decision (EU) 2020/547 on the mobilisation of the Contingency Margin in 2020 to provide emergency assistance to Member States and further reinforce the Union Civil Protection Mechanism/rescEU in response to the COVID-19 outbreak

What it is

to mobilise the Contingency Margin in 2020 to provide emergency assistance to Member States and further reinforce the Union Civil Protection Mechanism/rescEU in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. PROPOSED ACT: Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council. BACKGROUND: Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1311/2013 established a Contingency Margin of up to 0.03 % of the Gross National Income of the Union in order for the EU-28 to react to unforeseen circumstances as a last resort instrument. In the technical adjustment of the MFF for 2020, based on Article 6 of the MFF Regulation, the absolute amount of the Contingency Margin for the year 2020 is set at EUR 5 096.8 million. The Commission submitted Draft Amending Budget (DAB) No 2/2020 which includes an overall increase of commitment appropriations for heading 3 Security and Citizenship of EUR 3 000 million to cover the re-activation of the Emergency Support Instrument (ESI) within the Union to help Member States tackle the consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak and to further reinforce the Union Civil Protection Mechanism/rescEU so as to facilitate wider stock-piling and coordination of essential resource distribution across Europe. This increase complements other reinforcements that concerned the same heading for an overall amount of EUR 423.3 million already proposed by the Commission in DAB No 1/2020 . The European Parliament adopted 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 provide emergency assistance to Member States and further reinforce the Union Civil Protection Mechanism/rescEU in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Parliament approved the annex attached to the resolution in which it amended the Commission proposal. It called for the Contingency Margin to be mobilised to provide the amount of EUR 714 558 138 in commitment appropriations over and above the commitment ceiling of heading 3 (Security and citizenship) of the multiannual financial framework. It stated that the total amount of EUR 714 558 138 shall be offset against the margin under the commitment ceiling of the financial year 2020 of heading 5 (Administration) of the multiannual financial framework. NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision (EU) 2020/547 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the mobilisation of the Contingency Margin in 2020 to provide emergency assistance to Member States and further reinforce the Union Civil Protection Mechanism/rescEU in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. CONTENT: following the agreement between the European Parliament and the Council, this Decision to mobilise the Contingency Margin in 2020 to provide emergency assistance to Member States and further reinforce the Union Civil Protection Mechanism/rescEU in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1311/2013 established a Contingency Margin of up to 0.03 % of the Gross National Income of the Union in order for the EU-28 to react to unforeseen circumstances as a last resort instrument. In accordance with Article 6 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1311/2013, the Commission has calculated the…

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