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the Union’s budget for the financial year 2021 was definitively adopted on 17 March 2021 (2);

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on 24 March 2021, the Commission submitted a proposal containing draft amending budget No 2 to the general budget for the financial year 2021;

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given the unprecedented crisis and the need to finance rapid policy responses at short notice, it is appropriate to exceptionally agree on the Commission’s proposal to create room under the Emergency Support Instrument - for an amount of EUR 100 million - for the potential budgetary impact of emerging needs as the pandemic evolves. This way of budgeting should not constitute a precedent and the Commission should only use appropriations related to this reserve exclusively for combating the COVID-19 pandemic through actions eligible under Council Regulation (EU) 2020/521 of 14 April 2020 activating the emergency support under Regulation (EU) 2016/369, and amending its provisions taking into account the COVID-19 outbreak (3);

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in view of urgently making available sufficient appropriations under the Emergency Support Instrument (ESI) in 2021 and the EU contribution to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Council needs to proceed without delay with the adoption of its position on draft amending budget No 2 to the general budget for 2021. Therefore, it is justified to shorten, in accordance with Article 3(3) of the Council’s Rules of Procedure, the eight-week period for the information of national Parliaments laid down in Article 4 of Protocol No 1,