opinion parliamentary committee draft, 2 March 2026
On the proposal for a Council Regulation establishing the Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation and Decommissioning for the period 2028-2034 and repealing Regulations (Euratom) 2021/100 and (Euratom) 2021/948
Document BUDG-PA-785230 · (COM(2025)0598 – C10-0262/2025 – 2025/0265(CNS))
Committee on Budgets · Rapporteur: Rasmus Andresen
AI:In short
The Committee on Budgets gives its budgetary assessment of the proposed Council Regulation setting up the Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation and Decommissioning (INSCD) for 2028-2034, which merges international nuclear safety cooperation with decommissioning and radioactive waste management. It says the programme envelope should be raised from EUR 966 000 000 to a figure from the interim report, and that enough staff must be available from the start and throughout the next multiannual financial framework (MFF). It asks for sound legislation and governance, clear and monitored treatment of any budgetary guarantee and borrowing and lending, and full respect for the powers of the co-legislators and the budgetary authority. It wants complementarity with other programmes such as Global Europe to keep spending traceable, external assigned revenue to be transparent and scrutinised, and any change to the programme reflected in the performance regulation's monitoring provisions. It also tables Amendment 1 to Article 3(1), replacing the indicative financial envelope with a reference amount of EUR [number from the interim report, in current and 2025 prices].
Position. The Committee on Budgets finds that the programme envelope should be increased from EUR 966 000 000 to a figure from the interim report, that sufficient staff and sound legislation are needed, and that budgetary guarantee, borrowing and lending, complementarity, external assigned revenue and monitoring must respect the budgetary authority. It tables Amendment 1 to Article 3(1) replacing the indicative financial envelope with a reference amount.
Key points
- The INSCD would contribute to nuclear safety, radiation protection, safe management of spent fuel and radioactive waste, decommissioning and safeguards of nuclear materials, merging international cooperation and decommissioning activities in one programme.
- Nuclear safety is a public good, and past programmes have shown the added value of collecting and sharing knowledge on nuclear safety and decommissioning.
- The programme envelope should be increased from EUR 966 000 000 to a figure from the interim report, in current and 2025 prices, to meet its objectives.
- Sufficient human resources must be available from the outset and throughout the next MFF programming period for effective implementation of INSCD.
- Sufficiently detailed and sound legislation with an appropriate level of governance is a condition for proper budgetary decision-making and adequate parliamentary oversight.
- The budgetary implications of borrowing and lending under a budgetary guarantee must be clearly identified, transparently presented and monitored, with their impact on MFF headroom assessed, and decisions must respect the co-legislators and the budgetary authority.
- Complementarity between INSCD and other programmes such as Global Europe must not harm traceability of expenditure or the budgetary authority's prerogatives; INSCD's contribution to jointly financed operations must be identifiable at all stages, with the budgetary authority keeping full control through detailed budgetary nomenclature.
- External assigned revenue under INSCD must be clearly circumscribed, fully transparent and subject to effective parliamentary scrutiny; any amendment to such provisions by the lead committee should be coordinated with the Committee on Budgets and other committees.
- Any change to the programme's architecture, objectives and eligible actions must be reflected in the monitoring provisions under Annex I of the proposed performance regulation, as part of amending and negotiating that regulation.
- Amendment 1 to Article 3(1) would replace the indicative financial envelope with a reference amount of EUR [number from the interim report, in current and 2025 prices] for the period from 1 January 2028 to 31 December 2034.
Who is affected
- The Commission: its proposal would be amended on the programme's financial amount.
- The Council: as the body adopting the regulation, it would receive the committee's budgetary assessment and amendment.
- The Committee on Industry, Research and Energy: the lead committee receiving this opinion.
- Participating third countries and other donors: their financial contributions would be treated as external assigned revenue under the programme.
Figures and deadlines
Written by AI from the full text · every figure comes from the text · ¶ opens the paragraph · 17 Sept 2026 · Report a problem
Full text
Budgetary assessment 13 paragraphs
for the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy on the proposal for a Council Regulation establishing the Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation and Decommissioning for the period 2028-2034 and repealing Regulations (Euratom) 2021/100 and (Euratom) 2021/948
(COM(2025)0598 – C10-0262/2025– 2025/0265(CNS))
The Committee on Budgets has carried out a budgetary assessment of the proposal under Rule 58 of the Rules of Procedure and has reached the following conclusions:
The Committee on Budgets,
A.whereas the Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation and Decommissioning is proposed to contribute to a high level of nuclear safety, radiation protection, safe management of spent fuel and radioactive waste, decommissioning and the application of efficient and effective safeguards of nuclear materials (INSCD), merging in one programme activities relating to the promotion of international nuclear safety cooperation as well as activities in decommissioning and management of radioactive waste;
B.whereas nuclear safety is a public good and past programmes have demonstrated the added value of collecting and disseminating knowledge linked to nuclear safety and decommissioning;
1.Considers that the programme envelope should be increased from EUR 966 000 000 to [number from the interim report, in current and 2025 prices] in order to fulfil its objectives;
2.Considers that sufficient human resources must be available from the outset and throughout the entire programming period of the next MFF to ensure an effective implementation of INSCD;
3.Insists that sufficiently detailed and sound legislation, with an appropriate level of governance, is a condition for proper budgetary decision-making and adequate parliamentary oversight;
4.Recalls that the proposal includes the possibility to use a budgetary guarantee; stresses that the budgetary implications of borrowing and lending operations under the INSCD must be clearly identified, transparently presented and carefully monitored throughout the MFF period; underlines in particular that their potential impact on the MFF headroom or other guarantees must be fully assessed and duly taken into account; insists that all decisions related to such operations must fully respect the powers of the co-legislators and the prerogatives of the budgetary authority;
5.Takes note of the suggested complementarity between INSCD and other programmes such as Global Europe; stresses that enhanced complementarity between instruments must not come to the expense of traceability of expenditure or the prerogatives of the budgetary authority; underlines that the contribution of INSCD to operations financed jointly with other instruments must be explicitly identifiable at all stages of the budgetary cycle; insists that the budgetary authority should retain full control over how resources are combined across instruments and over the effective contribution of each programme to Union priorities, notably through detailed budgetary nomenclature;
6.Stresses that the use of external assigned revenue under INSCD must be clearly circumscribed, fully transparent and subject to effective parliamentary scrutiny; takes note in that regard of the provisions relating to financial contributions by any participating third country and other donors; underlines that, should the lead committee consider amending provisions relating to external assigned revenue, this should be done in coordination with the Committee on Budgets and the other committees in order to ensure a consistent approach;
7.Recalls the proposal for a Regulation on establishing a budget expenditure tracking and performance framework and other horizontal rules for the Union programmes and activities (the ‘performance regulation’), which establishes a single streamlined list for performance indicators and monitoring and evaluation provisions, some of them being relevant for INSCD; underlines that any change in the architecture, objectives and eligible actions under the programme will need to be appropriately reflected in the monitoring provisions under Annex I of the performance regulation, as part of the process of amending and negotiating that regulation.
Amendment 6 paragraphs
As part of its budgetary assessment, the Committee on Budgets also submits the following amendments to the proposal:
Amendment 1
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – Paragraph 1
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
|---|---|
| The indicative financial envelope for the implementation of the Instrument for the period from 1 January 2028 to 31 December 2034 shall be EUR 966 000 000 in current prices. | The reference amount for the implementation of the Instrument for the period from 1 January 2028 to 31 December 2034 shall be EUR [number from the interim report, in current and 2025 prices]. |
Or. en