Glossary

Commitments
Commitments are legal promises to spend money on activities whose implementation extends over several financial years. 

Emergency aid reserve
The emergency aid reserve is an instrument which is currently outside the multiannual financial framework. It is used to finance humanitarian, civilian crisis management and protection operations in non-EU states in unforeseen events. The current annual amount of the reserve is EUR 221 million in constant prices. The reserve is currently financed under heading 4 (The EU as a global player).

European development fund (EDF)
The European development fund is an instrument which is currently outside the multiannual financial framework. It finances development assistance for African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP countries), overseas countries and territories. The EDF has its own financial rules and is managed by a specific committee. The tenth EDF covers the period from 2008 to 2013 and provides an overall budget of EUR 23.0 billion in 2011 prices.

European globalisation adjustment fund
The European globalisation adjustment fund is an instrument which is currently outside the multiannual financial framework. It is intended to help workers made redundant as a result of major structural changes in world trade patterns in their efforts to find new employment. Currently, it can be mobilised up to an amount of EUR 500 million in current prices. It is currently financed under heading 1a (Competitiveness for growth and employment).

Flexibility instrument
The flexibility instrument is an instrument which is currently outside the multiannual financial framework. It is mobilised for clearly identified needs that can not be financed within the limits of the MFF ceilings. Its maximum annual amount is currently fixed at EUR 200 million in current prices. The part of this amount which is not spent in one year may be carried over for up to two years. The flexibility instrument can be financed under any heading.

General approach
A general approach is a political agreement of the Council pending the first-reading position of the European Parliament. A general approach is partial if it covers only parts of the proposed legislative act.

Heading
A heading is a political field for which the MFF sets a maximum annual amount which the EU is allowed to spend over a fixed period. The margin available under one heading may not be used for expenditure under a different heading unless the MFF is revised.

Margin
The margin is the difference between the annual MFF ceiling and the EU budget either in total (in commitments or payments) or in respect of individual headings (in commitments). Margins available under one heading may not be used for expenditure under a different heading unless the multiannual financial framework is revised.

Multiannual financial framework
The multiannual financial framework lays down the maximum annual amounts which the European Union may spend in different political fields over a fixed period. The ceilings laid down in the MFF regulation are not equivalent to the EU budget. In fact, the annually adopted EU budget always remains below the MFF expenditure ceilings. Sufficient margins have to be preserved in order to cope with unforeseen needs (only for cohesion policy is the MFF ceiling considered as an expenditure objective). The actual EU expenditure is even lower since a part of the budget is not spent.

Negotiating box
The negotiating box is a paper drafted by the Presidency of the Council of the EU which outlines the main elements and options for the MFF negotiations. It covers the three parts of the MFF package, i.e. the MFF regulation, the rules on own resources and the sector specific laws. The negotiating box is constantly updated and forms the basis for an agreement of the European Council. Once an agreement is reached its content feeds into the legislative work on the different acts.

Payments
Payments cover expenditure arising from commitments entered into the EU budget during current and preceding financial years. 

Partial general approach
A general approach is a political agreement of the Council pending the first-reading position of the European Parliament. A general approach is partial if it covers only parts of the proposed legislative act.

Provisional-twelfths arrangements
If the annual EU budget is not adopted at the beginning of a year, only a sum equivalent to not more than one twelfth of the budget appropriations for the previous year or of the draft budget proposed by the Commission, whichever is smaller, may be spent each month for any chapter of the budget. This causes delays in the implementation of programmes and in the reimbursement of payments made by the Member States. 

Solidarity fund
The EU solidarity fund is an instrument which is currently outside the multiannual financial framework. It is designed to provide rapid financial assistance in the event of a major disaster occuring in a Member State or candidate State. The annual amount to be budgeted to the fund may not exceed EUR 1 billion in current prices. The solidarity fund is currently financed under heading 3b (Citizenship) for Member States and under heading 4 (The EU as a global player) for candidate States.

Sub-heading
From a budgetary point of view a sub-heading is equivalent to a heading. Both of them set a maximum ceiling of expenditure and prevent the margin available under one heading/sub-heading being used for expenditure under a different heading/sub-heading. Sub-headings and headings only differ in terms of presentation. 

Sub-ceiling
A sub-ceiling limits the expenditure contained within it in the same way as headings and sub-headings do. Contrary to a heading and a sub-heading a margin available under a sub-ceiling may be used for expenditure under the heading outside the sub-ceiling. Resources budgeted for programmes and actions under one sub-ceiling may be transferred to other programmes and actions under the same heading.