—

having regard to Article 314 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

—

having regard to Article 106a of the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community,

—

having regard to Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union and repealing Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 (1), and in particular Article 41 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 (2), and in particular Article 44 thereof,

—

having regard to the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2018, as definitively adopted on 30 November 2017 (3),

—

having regard to Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1311/2013 of 2 December 2013 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2014-2020 (4),

—

having regard to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 2 December 2013 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline, on cooperation in budgetary matters and on sound financial management (5),

—

having regard to Council Decision 2014/335/EU, Euratom of 26 May 2014 on the system of own resources of the European Union (6),

—

having regard to Draft amending budget No 5/2018, which the Commission adopted on 10 July 2018 (COM(2018)0537),

—

having regard to the position on Draft amending budget No 5/2018 which the Council adopted on 18 September 2018 and forwarded to Parliament on 20 September 2018 (11843/2018 – C8-0415/2018),

—

having regard to the letter of the Committee on Foreign Affairs,

—

having regard to Rules 88 and 91 of its Rules of Procedure,

—

having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets (A8-0292/2018),

A.

whereas, at the insistence of Parliament, the budgetary authority decided, within the context of the 2018 budgetary procedure, to place in reserve EUR 70 million of commitment appropriations and EUR 35 million of payment appropriations of the Union’s support to Turkey from the Instrument for Pre-Accession (IPA II) on the budget item 22 02 03 01 Support for political reforms and related progressive alignment with the Union acquis;

B.

whereas Parliament and the Council decided that for the amounts put in reserve to be released, Turkey would need to make “measurable sufficient improvements in the fields of rule of law, democracy, human rights and press freedom, according to the annual report of the Commission”; whereas the Commission’s annual report on Turkey from 17 April 2018 (7) confirmed unequivocally a backsliding of the rule of law, democracy and human rights in Turkey; whereas the condition set by the budgetary authority has therefore not been met;

C.

whereas the Commission has proposed to fully cancel the amounts which have been placed in reserve, both in commitment and payment appropriations, as well as the related budgetary remarks;

D.

whereas the Commission has proposed to reinforce the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) with EUR 70 million in commitment appropriations in order to fund actions linked to the Central Mediterranean migratory route through the North Africa window of the EU Trust Fund for Africa (EUR 28 million) and to fulfil part of the Union pledge made at the 24-25 April 2018 Brussels II conference “Supporting the future of Syria and the region”(EUR 42 million, which are to be transferred to the EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis (the ‘Madad’Fund));

E.

whereas the Commission has proposed to reinforce Humanitarian Aid with EUR 35 million in payment appropriations to meet needs triggered by the EUR 124,8 million reinforcements at the end of 2017 which did not include payment appropriations;

F.

whereas the Commission has also proposed to reinforce the establishment plan of the innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) in the context of the WiFi4EU initiative, by adding one post of temporary agent at grade AD7; whereas this amendment can be financed within the Agency’s budget for this year;

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.