THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 314 thereof, in conjunction with the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community, and in particular Article 106a thereof,

Having regard to Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 July 2018 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union, amending Regulations (EU) No 1296/2013, (EU) No 1301/2013, (EU) No 1303/2013, (EU) No 1304/2013, (EU) No 1309/2013, (EU) No 1316/2013, (EU) No 223/2014, (EU) No 283/2014, and Decision No 541/2014/EU and repealing Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 (1), and in particular Article 44 thereof,

Whereas:

—	the Union’s budget for the financial year 2020 was definitively adopted on 27 November 2019 (2);

—	on 28 August 2020, the Commission submitted a proposal containing draft amending budget No 8 to the general budget for the financial year 2020;

—

in order to urgently make available sufficient payment appropriations under the Emergency Support Instrument (ESI) in 2020 to cover all the relevant commitments that the Commission will undertake in the short term with vaccine manufacturers on behalf of Member States, as well as the other ongoing actions under the ESI, and to be able to cover expected payment applications to be paid in 2020 under the Corona Response Investment Initiative Plus (CRII+), the Council needs to proceed without delay with the adoption of its position on draft amending budget No 8 to the general budget for 2020. 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,

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS: