Plenary Session: Regulation amending the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020

Regulation amending the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020

I voted in favour of this change to the current Multiannual Financial Framework (2014-2020) because these changes are necessary and very important in order to maximize the resources of the European budget in combating the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this amendment to the regulation, the European Commission stretches the existing Multiannual Financial Framework as much as possible, proposing to use almost all existing special and flexibility instruments: the revision of the MFF Regulation raises any limits/barriers to the mobilisation of the Global Margin relating to Commitments; the mobilisation of the Flexibility Instrument, which is another existing special instrument; the mobilisation of the Contingency Margin, which is a special instrument of last resort, capable of modifying the profile of the MFF ceilings.
Finally, the truly innovative solution proposed by the EC: reactivation and modification (to adapt it to the COVID-19 crisis) of the Emergency Support Instrument (ESI). Created by the Council in 2016 to respond to the migration crisis, in order to “fast-track” the EC's action/reaction, it expands its executive powers in budgetary matters and, with this change, allows the Commission to coordinate the purchase, distribution and support to Member States in the area of essential medical supplies.

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