Taking into account the need for an adequate level of predictability for preparing and implementing medium-term investments, the duration of the multiannual financial framework (MFF) should be set at seven years starting on 1 January 2021.

The economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis requires the Union to provide a long-term financial framework paving the way to a fair and inclusive transition to a green and digital future, supporting the Union’s longer-term strategic autonomy and making it resilient to shocks in the future.

The annual ceilings for commitment appropriations by category of expenditure and the annual ceilings for payment appropriations established by this Regulation are to respect the applicable ceilings for commitments and own resources, which are set in accordance with the Council decision on the system of own resources of the European Union in force that has been adopted in accordance with the third paragraph of Article 311 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) (the ‘Own Resources Decision’).

Where it is necessary to mobilise the guarantees given under the general budget of the Union for financial assistance to Member States authorised in accordance with Article 220(1) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council2 (the ‘Financial Regulation’), the necessary amount should be mobilised over and above the ceilings for commitment and payment appropriations of the MFF, while respecting the own resources ceiling.

The MFF should not take account of budget items financed by assigned revenue within the meaning of the Financial Regulation.

The MFF should be laid down in 2018 prices. The rules for annual technical adjustments to the MFF to recalculate the ceilings and margins available should also be laid down.

Rules should be laid down for other situations that might require the MFF to be adjusted. Such adjustments might be related to the delayed adoption of new rules or programmes under shared management, to measures linked to sound economic governance or to measures adopted under the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on a general regime of conditionality for the protection of the Union budget. Rules should also be laid down for a mechanism for programme-specific adjustment.

Specific and maximum possible flexibility should be implemented to allow the Union to fulfil its obligations in compliance with Article 323 TFEU.

The following thematic special instruments are necessary to allow the Union to react to specified unforeseen circumstances or consequences and thereby allow the budgetary procedure to run smoothly: the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund, the Solidarity and Emergency Aid Reserve and the Brexit Adjustment Reserve. The Solidarity and Emergency Aid Reserve is not aimed at addressing the consequences of market related crises affecting the agricultural production or distribution.

The following non-thematic special instruments are necessary to further enhance flexibility: the Single Margin Instrument and the Flexibility Instrument. The Single Margin Instrument should enable shifting margins available below the ceilings for commitment and payment appropriationsrespectively between financial years and, for commitment appropriations, between MFF headings, without exceeding the total amounts of the MFF ceilings for commitment and payment appropriations for the entire period of the MFF. The Flexibility Instrument should allow the financing of specific unforeseen expenditure for a given financial year.

Specific provision should be made for the possibility to enter commitment and corresponding payment appropriations into the budget over and above the ceilings set out in the MFF where it is necessary to use special instruments.

It is necessary to provide for a revision of the MFF in the event of revision of the Treaties with budgetary implications, of the reunification of Cyprus or of the enlargement of the Union, as well as in the light of the implementation of the budget.

This Regulation might also need to be revised in relation to unforeseen circumstances that cannot be dealt with within the limits set out in the MFF. It is therefore necessary to provide for the revision of the MFF in such cases.

Specific rules are also necessary for dealing with large-scale projects the lifetime of which extends well beyond the period set for the MFF. It is necessary to establish maximum amounts for the contributions from the general budget of the Union to those projects, thereby ensuring that they do not have any impact on other projects financed from that budget.

It is necessary to lay down general rules on interinstitutional cooperation in the budgetary procedure, while respecting the budgetary powers of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission (the ‘Institutions’) as laid down in the Treaties as well as transparency requirements.

The Commission should present a proposal for a new multiannual financial framework before 1 July 2025, to enable the institutions to adopt it sufficiently in advance of the start of the subsequent multiannual financial framework. In accordance with Article 312(4) TFEU, the ceilings corresponding to the last year of the MFF set out in this Regulation are to continue to apply in the event that a new multiannual financial framework is not adopted before the end of the term of the MFF laid down in this Regulation,