As in previous years, the mobilisation of the flexibility tools of the MFF proved necessary to finance budgetary priorities and reinforcements, already at the initial stage of adoption. The conciliation agreement for the 2018 budget included the mobilisation of two such instruments: the Global Margin for Commitments and the Flexibility Instrument (Table 1). In the resolution accompanying the mobilisation of the latter, the European Parliament reiterated its longstanding view that the flexibility of the EU Budget should be increased.

Subheading 1a includes EU investments in research and innovation, education and training, large infrastructure projects, trans-European networks in transport, communication and energy, social policy and development of enterprises. Examples of supported programmes and instruments are Horizon 2020, the Connecting Europe Facility, Erasmus+, the European satellite navigation systems (EGNOS and Galileo), the European Earth Observation Programme (Copernicus) and the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI).