Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2093 of 17 December 2020 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2021 to 2027

CHAPTER 1

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1

Multiannual financial framework

This Regulation lays down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2021 to 2027 (MFF).

Article 2

Compliance with the ceilings of the MFF

The sub-ceiling for heading 3 as set out in Annex I is established without prejudice to the flexibility between the two pillars of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The adjusted ceiling to be applied to pillar I of the CAP following the transfers between the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and direct payments shall be laid down in the relevant legal act and the MFF shall be adjusted accordingly under the technical adjustment provided for in Article 4 of this Regulation.

Where it is necessary to use the resources from the Single Margin Instrument as laid down in Article 11, commitment and corresponding payment appropriations shall be entered in the budget over and above the relevant MFF ceilings for a given year.

Where it is necessary to mobilise a guarantee for financial assistance to Ukraine which is available for the years 2023 and 2024 and authorised in accordance with Article 220(1) of the Financial Regulation, the necessary amount shall be mobilised over and above the MFF ceilings.

Where it is necessary to mobilise a guarantee for financial assistance to Ukraine which is available for the years 2024 to 2027 for an overall amount of loans of up to EUR 33 000  million in current prices as specified in Regulation (EU) 2024/792 of the European Parliament and of the Council (¹) and authorised in accordance with Article 220(1) of the Financial Regulation, the necessary amount shall be mobilised over and above the MFF ceilings.

Article 3

Respect of own resources ceiling

CHAPTER 2

ADJUSTMENTS TO THE MFF

Article 4

Technical adjustments

Each year the Commission, acting ahead of the budgetary procedure for year n+1, shall make the following technical adjustments to the MFF:

(a) a revaluation, at year n+1 prices, of the ceilings and of the overall figures for appropriations for commitments and appropriations for payments;

(b) a calculation of the margin available under the own resources ceiling set out in the Own Resources Decision;

(c) a calculation of the amount of commitment appropriations available under the Single Margin Instrument as referred to in point (a) of the first subparagraph of Article 11(1), as well as of the total maximum amount referred to in point (a) of the first subparagraph of Article 11(2);

(d) a calculation of the adjustment of the ceiling for payment appropriations under the Single Margin Instrument as referred to in point (b) of the first subparagraph of Article 11(1), as well as of the maximum amount referred to in point (b) of the first subparagraph of Article 11(2);

(e) a calculation of the additional allocations for specific programmes referred to in Article 5(1) and the result of the annual adjustment referred to in Article 5(2);

(f) a calculation of the amount available for the EURI Instrument in accordance with Article 10a(3), point (a);

(g) a calculation of the amounts to be made available to the Flexibility Instrument under Article 12(1), second subparagraph.

Article 5

Programme-specific adjustment

An amount equivalent to the revenue from fines imposed under Council Regulations (EC) No 1/2003 (²) and (EC) No 139/2004 (³) by Union institutions, which is entered in the budget of the year n-1 in accordance with Article 107 of the Financial Regulation, after deduction of the amount for the year n-1 referred to in Article 141(1) of the Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community (⁴), shall be available for an additional allocation of:

(a) commitment appropriations for year n+1, starting for the year 2022 and ending in 2027, to the programmes listed in Annex II, in accordance with percentages set out for those programmes in the column ‘Distribution key’ of the table in Annex II; and

(b) payment appropriations for year n+1, starting for the year 2022 and ending in 2027.

The total amount of additional allocations for the period 2022 to 2027 for commitment and payment appropriations respectively shall be EUR 10 155  million (in 2018 prices). For each of the years from 2022 to 2026, the annual amount of additional allocations for commitment and payment appropriations respectively shall be at least EUR 1 500  million (in 2018 prices) and shall not exceed EUR 2 000  million (in 2018 prices).

The total amount of additional allocations for commitment appropriations for the programmes in the period 2022 to 2027 is set out in the column ‘Total additional allocation of commitment appropriations under Article 5’ of the table in Annex II.

Article 6

Adjustments related to measures linked to sound economic governance or to a general regime of conditionality for the protection of the Union budget

Article 7

Adjustment following new rules or programmes under shared management

CHAPTER 3

SPECIAL INSTRUMENTS

SECTION 1

Thematic special instruments

Article 8

European Globalisation Adjustment Fund

Article 9

Solidarity and Emergency Aid Reserve

The Solidarity and Emergency Aid Reserve shall be constituted of two instruments which may be used to finance, respectively:

(a) assistance to respond to emergency situations resulting from major disasters that are covered by the European Union Solidarity Fund, the objectives and scope of which are set out in Council Regulation (EC) No 2012/2002 (⁶) (the “European Solidarity Reserve”); and

(b) rapid responses to specific emergency needs within the Union or in third countries following events which could not be foreseen when the budget was established, in particular for emergency responses and support operations following natural disasters not covered by point (a), man-made disasters, humanitarian crises in cases of large-scale public health, veterinary or phytosanitary threats, as well as in situations of particular pressure at the Union’s external borders resulting from migratory flows, where circumstances so require (the “Emergency Aid Reserve”).

On 1 October of each year, at least one quarter of the annual amount of the European Solidarity Reserve shall remain available in order to cover needs arising until the end of that year.

In exceptional cases and if the remaining financial resources available are not sufficient to cover the amounts considered necessary in the year of occurrence of a disaster as referred to in point (a) of paragraph 1, the Commission may propose that the difference be financed through the annual amount referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph available in the following year, up to a maximum amount of EUR 400 million (in 2018 prices).

Article 10

Brexit Adjustment Reserve

Article 10a

EURI Instrument

As of 2025, the EURI Instrument may be used to finance, for a given year, part of the costs of the interest and coupon payments due in respect of the funds borrowed on the capital markets in accordance with Article 5(2) of Council Decision (EU, Euratom) 2020/2053 (⁷). The EURI Instrument may only be mobilised in a given year to cover, to the extent specified in the following paragraphs, the amount of these costs that exceed the following amounts (in 2018 prices):

— 2025 – EUR 2 332  million,

— 2026 – EUR 3 196  million,

— 2027 – EUR 4 168  million.

Appropriations for the EURI Instrument shall be made available over and above the MFF ceilings.

The EURI Instrument shall comprise the following:

(a) an amount equivalent to decommitments of appropriations, other than external assigned revenue, made cumulatively since 2021, which were not mobilised under this instrument in the previous years, with the exclusion of the amounts of decommitments made available again in accordance with the provisions of Article 15 of the Financial Regulation and specific rules on making appropriations available again as referred to in the relevant basic acts. This amount shall be drawn on first;

(b) only if the amount under point (a) of this paragraph is insufficient, an additional amount necessary to fully finance the costs referred to in paragraph 1 in the year concerned. Each year, as part of the technical adjustments referred to in Article 4, the Commission shall calculate the amount available on the basis of the first subparagraph, point (a), of this paragraph taking into account the amounts considered for that purpose in the previous years.

Article 10b

Ukraine Reserve

SECTION 2

Non-thematic special instruments

Article 11

Single Margin Instrument

The Single Margin Instrument shall comprise:

(a) as of 2022, amounts corresponding to margins left available below the MFF ceilings for commitment appropriations of year n-1 to be made available over and above the MFF ceilings for commitment appropriations for the years 2022 to 2027;

(b) as of 2022, amounts equivalent to the difference between the executed payments and the MFF payment ceiling of year n-1 to adjust upwards the payment ceiling for the years 2022 to 2027; and

(c) additional amounts which may be made available over and above the MFF ceilings in a given year for commitment or payment appropriations, or both, as the case may be, provided that they are fully offset against the margins in one or more MFF headings for the current or future financial years as regards commitment appropriations and are fully offset against the margins under the payment ceiling for future financial years as regards payment appropriations.

Amounts may only be mobilised under point (c) of the first subparagraph if the amounts available pursuant to points (a) and (b) of that subparagraph, as applicable, are insufficient, and in any case as a last resort to react to unforeseen circumstances.

Recourse to point (c) of the first subparagraph shall not result in exceeding the total amounts of the MFF ceilings for commitment and payment appropriations for the current financial year and future financial years. Any amounts offset in accordance with that point shall therefore not be further mobilised in the context of the MFF.

Recourse to the Single Margin Instrument under points (a) and (c) of the first subparagraph of paragraph 1 shall not exceed, in any given year, a total of:

(a) 0,04 % of the gross national income of the Union in commitment appropriations, as calculated in the annual technical adjustment of the MFF referred to in Article 4;

(b) 0,03 % of the gross national income of the Union in payment appropriations, as calculated in the annual technical adjustment of the MFF referred to in Article 4.

Recourse to the Single Margin Instrument in any given year shall be consistent with the own resources ceilings set out in the Own Resources Decision.

The annual adjustments referred to in point (b) of the first subparagraph of paragraph 1 shall not exceed the following maximum amounts (in 2018 prices) for the years 2025 to 2027 as compared to the original payment ceiling of the relevant years:

— 2025 – EUR 8 000  million,

— 2026 – EUR 13 000  million,

— 2027 – EUR 15 000  million.

Amounts referred to in the second subparagraph of Article 5(2) shall be in addition to the maximum amounts referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph.

Any upward adjustment shall be fully offset by a corresponding reduction of the payment ceiling for year n-1.

The upward adjustment referred to in point (b) of the first subparagraph of paragraph 1 of this Article shall be carried out by the Commission, starting in 2022, as part of the technical adjustment referred to in Article 4.

Article 12

Flexibility Instrument

Each year, the annual amount available for the Flexibility Instrument shall be increased by an amount equivalent to the portions of the annual amounts for the European Solidarity Reserve and the Emergency Aid Reserve which have lapsed in the previous year in accordance with Article 9.

CHAPTER 4

REVISION OF THE MFF

Article 13

Revision of the MFF

Article 14

Revision related to implementation

When notifying the European Parliament and the Council of the results of the technical adjustments to the MFF, the Commission shall, where appropriate, submit any proposal to revise the total appropriations for payments which it considers necessary, in the light of implementation, to ensure a sound management of the yearly payment ceilings, and in particular their orderly progression in relation to the appropriations for commitments.

Article 15

Revision in the event of a revision of the Treaties

In the event of a revision of the Treaties with budgetary implications, the MFF shall be revised accordingly.

Article 16

Revision in the event of enlargement of the Union

In the event of an accession or accessions to the Union, the MFF shall be revised to take account of the expenditure requirements resulting therefrom.

Article 17

Revision in the event of the reunification of Cyprus

In the event of the reunification of Cyprus, the MFF shall be revised to take account of the comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem and the additional financial needs resulting from the reunification.

CHAPTER 5

CONTRIBUTION TO THE FINANCING OF LARGE-SCALE PROJECTS

Article 18

Contribution to the financing of large-scale projects

CHAPTER 6

INTERINSTITUTIONAL COOPERATION IN THE BUDGETARY PROCEDURE

Article 19

Interinstitutional cooperation in the budgetary procedure

Article 20

Unity of the budget

All expenditure and revenue of the Union and the European Atomic Energy Community shall be included in the general budget of the Union in accordance with Article 7 of the Financial Regulation, including expenditure resulting from any relevant decision taken unanimously by the Council after consulting the European Parliament, in the framework of Article 332 TFEU.

CHAPTER 7

FINAL PROVISIONS

Article 21

Transition towards the next multiannual financial framework

Before 1 July 2025, the Commission shall present a proposal for a new multiannual financial framework.

Article 22

Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

It shall apply from 1 January 2021.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

ANNEX I

MULTIANNUAL FINANCIAL FRAMEWORK (EU-27)