Activites

• 2001/02/26 Final act published in Official Journal
  • Budget 2001/110
  • OJ L 056 26.02.2001, p. 0001
• 2000/12/14 Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading
  • T5-0568/2000
• 2000/12/12 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 2000/12/11 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 2nd reading
• 2000/12/04 Vote in committee, 2nd reading
  • A5-0380/2000
• 2000/11/24 Council amended draft budget published
  • 13830/2000 summary

    The Council carried out the second reading of the draft budget for the financial year 2001, by taking decisions on all the proposed modifications and the amendments adopted by the European Parliament at the first reading. The Council also established (taking account of the agreement with the European Parliament for adoption on one reading) Letter of Amendment No 2 to its draft budget for the same financial year. The overall expenditure following the Council's second reading (including Letter of Amendment No 2) is as follows: - Appropriations for commitment (c/a) 95 803 - Appropriations for payment (p/a) 91 710. Compared to the 2000 budget, these figures represent an increase of 2,7% in appropriations for commitment and of 2,5% in appropriations for payment. Total payment appropriations represent 1,06% of Community GNP. The amount of the available surplus is EUR 900 million. As regards the Council's second reading (including Letter of Amendment No 2), the main changes in relation to its first reading in July and to the Parliament's first reading in October are as follows: 1) On heading 1 (agriculture), the Council's second reading provides for the overall acceptance of the proposal in Letter of Amendment No 2 for sub-heading 1a (CAP), which represents a saving of EUR 472,5 million in commitment appropriations compared with the draft budget (first reading by the Council), including a sum of EUR 60 million to finance the extension of rapid tests for bovine spongiform encephalitis (BSE). As regards the latter, if additional needs appear during 2001, the Council and the Parliament have announced that they are in favour of implementing all the provisions enabling corresponding additional financing to be made available. On rural development expenditure (heading 1b), the Council accepted the Parliament's amendments reinstating the amounts proposed in the PDB; 2) On heading 2 (structural operations), the Council also confirmed the amounts approved for payment appropriations at first reading, with the exception of those concerning Community initiative programmes (CIP). In accordance with the agreement reached during conciliation, the Council decided on a reduction of EUR 700 million for payment appropriations for the CIP; 3) On heading 3 (internal policies), the Council accepted a number of European Parliament amendments, including a set of preparatory measures and pilot projects, and maintained the Council's draft budget for the other headings, with the exception of those concerning the Multiannual Programme in favour of Enterprise and Entrepreneurship, for which it agreed a total of EUR 100 million in commitment appropriations for 2001, in the context of an indicative multiannual allocation of EUR 450 million for this programme; 4) For heading 4 (external action), the Council approved, for the first time at second reading, an increase in the overall allocation for the Balkans, making possible an allocation of EUR 200 million for aid to Serbia. Since this first instalment was entered under the overall amount set aside for the Balkans under the CARDS programme, and EUR 230 million for Kosovo, areduction in the instalment for 2001 was made possible following the EUR 175 million transfer to Kosovo at the end of 2000; it also agreed to preparatory measures and maintained the draft budget established by the Council for the other items. It also accepted Letter of Amendment No 2 regarding international fisheries agreements. The Council also gave its agreement to the principle of the mobilisation of the flexibility instrument for up to EUR 200 million in commitment appropriations for Serbia, allowing for the inclusion at second reading by the European Parliament of a total of EUR 839 million for the Balkans; 5) On heading 5 (administrative expenditure), the Council accepted the European Parliament's amendments for the Court of Auditors, the ESC, the Committee of the Regions and the European Ombudsman (see BUD/1999/2191 for further details in this regard); 6) On heading 7 (pre-accession aid), the Council confirmed the results of its first reading.�

• #2310
• 2000/11/14 Council Meeting
• 2000/10/26 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T5-0472/2000 summary

    The European Parliament adopted the report by Mrs Jutta HAUG (PES, D) on the draft general budget of the European Union for 2001 (430 votes for, 59 against and 23 abstentions). The Parliament recalls that new needs unforeseen at the time the financial perspective was agreed in principle require a revision of that financial perspective. The revision of the ceiling in heading 4 is a political necessity. Moreover, the Council is invited, taking into consideration the evolutions in Serbia, to forward its estimates on the financial needs for the region to be presented at the Balkan Summit in Zagreb on 24 November 2000 without delay. In addition, the Parliament considers that the two arms of the budgetary authority should establish jointly, as part of the 2001 budget, the multiannual allocations for the MEDA and CARDS programmes. With regard to the administrative reform, the European Parliament accepts the creation of 400 new posts and approves in principle, the introduction of an early retirement scheme in the framework of the reform of the Commission. Furthermore, it underlines the need to find sustainable and realistic solutions to the problem of the backlog in payments for structural operations, internal policies, external actions and preaccession aid and points to the need to make available sufficient payment appropriations for the new commitment appropriations entered in the 2001 budget. The Commission is asked to speed up the creation of the bodies replacing the Technical Assistance Offices. The Parliament underlines the need for better monitoring of budget implementation throughout the financial year and rejects the attitude shown by the Commission in refusing to implement programmes on the grounds of lack of resources, thus going against the decisions of the budgetary authority without even consulting the Parliament. As regards agriculture, the report decides through its budget amendments to restore the PDB in heading 1a, pending the Commission Letter of Amendment No 2/2001 and invites the Council to review its position concerning appropriations on the reading of this Amended Letter. The Commission is called upon to draw up by 30 June 2001 an assessment of the financing of the Common Agricultural Policy. Consequently, and in order to avoid a potentially serious shortage of payment appropriations, this report underscores the budget decisions to restore the PDB as regards the payment appropriations of the Structural Funds and creates a substantial reserve in order to assess the likely supplementary needs. In the field of internal policies, the European Parliament notes the considerable reduction (14,6%) made by the Council compared to the 2000 budget and adopts the amendments which safeguard its political priorities concerning internal policies. It deplores the fact that the information and communication activities lack dynamism and that insufficient coordination takes place within the Commission and at interinstitutional level. As a consequence, it has entered appropriations for information policies in the reserve. The European Parliament reiterates its support for a statuteon European political parties and underlines its determination to see a substantial increase in the allocations for SMEs. In addition, the Parliament underscores the considerable efforts it has undertaken to find more resources in the budget for the Balkans than the Council was prepared to see allocated. It considers the level of funding for that region still to be insufficient. The Parliament provides EUR 60 million supporting democratisation in that country. It also creates a specific new line in the budget with a token entry, pending a decision by the budgetary authority. Finally, the report expresses support for the for the enlargement process by reinstating the payment appropriations entered by the Commission in the PDB for the preaccession instruments SAPARD and ISPA. It calls on the Commission to submit to the Parliament by 30 June 2001 a report explaining its view on the consequences that enlargement will have on the administrative structure of the Commission.�

• 2000/10/24 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 2000/10/17 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A5-0300/2000
• 2000/09/11 Council draft budget published
  • 10299/2000 summary

    After the meeting with the European Parliament, the Council, having confirmed the results of the preparatory work done by the Permanent Representatives Committee, established the draft budget for the financial year 2001 by a very large majority. The draft budget for 2001 established by the Council provides for: - EUR 95 860 million in commitment appropriations, an increase of 2,7% over the 2000 budget; - EUR 92 499 million in payment appropriations, an increase of 3,5% over the 2000 budget. With a 3,5% growth in p/a in 2001, the draft budget of the Communities is increasing at a much greater rate than those of the Member States, and at a greater rate than predicted for inflation in 2001 (1,8%). That increase reflects the Council's commitment to the financing of the Union's policies. This draft budget constitutes a balanced compromise, in that considered overall, it allows all the Union's policies and priorities to be financed without imposing an excessive burden on the Member States involved in the process of bringing their public expenditure under control; by leaving room for manoeuvre, in particular under the ceilings for heading 3 (Internal policies) and heading 4 (External action), the Council intends to allow the Parliament, which has ultimate competence in regard to non-compulsory expenditure, to make its priorities known without calling those of the Council into question. The salient points of the draft budget established by the Council are : 1. The draft budget makes a priority action on the Balkans possible, with an increase in appropriations of 30% over 2000. The EUR 614 million voted by the Council will make it possible to finance all foreseeable needs, insofar as Serbia is not yet eligible for Community aid (apart from aid for democracy, which represents a smaller sum). The granting of very considerably increased amounts to the Balkans was possible without revision of the financial perspective, which the Council did not accept. It regarded revision as neither desirable nor necessary at the present stage, since the draft budget allows adequate margins in relation to the existing ceilings and at the same time allows significant aid to the Balkans. Moreover, the Council shared the European Parliament's view that the revision as proposed by the Commission in connection with the reduction of agricultural expenditure, could not be contemplated. 2. The financing of the Union's other policy priorities is covered: - appropriations for the common agricultural policy are increased by 6,5%, in order to finance reform of the CAP; - structural actions are stabilised at a high level; - all the programmes adopted jointly by the European Parliament and the Council comply with the jointly-decided programming. 3. The Employment Initiative (COD/2000/0195) is a priority for the Council and for the European Parliament, in the extension of the conclusions of the Feira European Council. The Council awaits the Commission's assessment this autumn so as to be able to seek agreement with the Parliament on financing the Initiative on second reading. 4. Analysis of expenditure by category: - In regard to the CAP (heading 1): the significant growth in agricultural appropriations (+ 6,5%) is a consequence of the Berlin agreements reforming the CAP. However, the Council has reduced the amount of the appropriations for 2001 set in the Commission proposal, because of of the habitual under-utilisation of agricultural expenditure each year. - In regard to Structural operations (heading 2): The draft budget provides for a 2,1% increase in commitment appropriations resulting from the full budgeting of heading 2 of the financial perspective. Payment appropriations have been reduced overall in relation to the 2000 budget. The Council has also effected some rebalancing to the advantage of the Cohesion Fund (+ EUR 360 million to the Cohesion Fund in relation to the PDB, taken from the Structural Funds following the estimated outturns announced by the Member States). - On the matter of internal policies (heading 3): the Council has set a precautionary margin for heading 3 (EUR 208 million) larger than that proposed by the Commission (EUR 137 million). The Council has thus provided for an adequate margin of appropriations with a view to the adoption, by letter of amendment, between now and the second reading of the budget, of thE sums for the priorities shared by the Council and the Parliament, such as the Employment Initiative. Regarding the major multiannual programmes such as the Research and Development Framework Programme (EUR 3.920 million), and Trans-European Networks (EUR 665 million), the Council has kept to the schedules for appropriations agreed with the European Parliament by endorsing the sum in the PDB. - With regard to external action (heading 4): the Council has endorsed all the priorities in respect of third countries and the Balkans. That aid reflects the need for effective and credible intervention based on an analysis of requirements, the adjustment of aid levels and arrangements to fit those requirements and the spreading of effort between all the bilateral and multilateral donors. The form of aid will move from emergency aid, which is by definition rapidly utilised, to more structural aid, which is generally more complex to commit. Regarding MEDA, the reduction of EUR 150 million in the figure for commitment appropriations in the Commission's requests does not call into question the importance that the Council attaches to this programme, as it still has an accumulation of commitments outstanding representing several implementing years. Improved management of this programme is therefore the Council's main concern. An increase in effective payments under the MEDA programme and the implementation of projects on the ground will depend on such an improvement; - On pre-accession (heading 7) : The pre-accession appropriations under heading 7 of the draft budget have been boosted primarily by the + 10,9% in payment appropriations, reflecting the priority accorded by the Council, and shared by the Parliament and the Commission, to this category of expenditure. However, the Council has readjusted the amount of payment appropriations proposed by the Commission for certain pre-accession instruments (- EUR 300 million under the Commission's preliminarydraft) in order to take account of the significant under-utilisation of these appropriations in 2000.�

• #2285
• 2000/07/20 Council Meeting
  • 2285 summary

    Before studying and establishing the draft budget for the financial year 2000, the Council held its customary meeting with a delegation from the European Parliament, in the framework of the Interinstitutional Agreement on budgetary discipline of 6 May 1999. The delegation was led by Mr Terence WYNN, Chairman of the Committee on Budgets, and comprised: - Ms Barbara DÜHRKOP DÜHRKOP (Vice-Chairwoman), Ms Jutta HAUG (General Rapporteur for the 2001 budget), Mr Markus FERBER (Budget Rapporteur for the other Institutions 2001), Ms Catherine GUY-QUINT, Mr Jean-Louis BOURLANGES, Mr Joan COLOM I NAVAL, Mr Gian Franco DELL'ALBA, Mr James ELLES, Mr Salvador GARRIGA POLLEDO, Ms Heide RÜHLE, Mr Kyösti VIRRANKOSKI and Mr Ralf WALTER, Members of the Committee on Budgets. This conciliation meeting covered three topics, the Regulation on budgetary discipline, the Decision on own resources and the preliminary draft budget for 2001. Discussions took place in an excellent atmosphere and agreement was reached on many points. In regard to budgetary discipline, the positions were brought close enough for the conciliation exercise to be completed. As regards own resources, the Parliament will probably confirm its agreement in September. Agreement was also reached on the procedure for evaluating the financial programming of headings 3 and 4 (see statement in Annex I). With regard to the preliminary draft budget for 2001, the two Institutions agreed to give priority to the Employment Initiative (COD/2000/0195). A first-reading conciliation on the amount of the multiannual programme will take place in autumn as part of the search for an overall agreement. In addition, in regard to agriculture, agreements were reached on milk for schoolchildren (+ EUR 18 million p/a) and on promoting product quality (+ EUR 2 million p/a), on a reduction for rural development (- EUR 225 million ca/pa - to take account of the timeframe for implementing the multiannual programmes), on the amount for fisheries (- EUR 7 million c/a, - EUR 5 million p/a - pending receipt of the Commission's autumn letter of amendment to take account of certain agreements with third countries), and on the amount earmarked for the CFSP and the entering of the special envoys' administrative expenditure in the Council section of the budget. The positive outcome of the first-reading conciliation offers good prospects for the achievement of an overall compromise on second reading, in particular on the Balkans, the amount to be allocated to the Employment Initiative and the rate of increase in the appropriations for payments in the budget.�

• 2000/05/23 Commission preliminary draft budget published
  • COM(2000)0300 summary

    PURPOSE: to present the Preliminary Draft General Budget of the EC for the financial year 2001. CONTENT: On the basis of several discussions with Parliament and the Council of Ministers, the Commission has drawn up the preliminary draft budget (PDB) for 2001. The PDB amounts globally to EUR 96.924 billion in commitment appropriations and EUR 93.874 billion in payment appropriations, under the overall ceilings. As with any national budget, most of the EU's budget is determined by contracts, precedents and legal bases from previous years. This is particularly the case with the organisation of agricultural markets - the largest expenditure heading in the 2001 budget - and the Structural Funde, but also for multiannual programmes in research, the promotion of young people and foreign policy. Despite the legacy from previous years, however, the 2001 budget also sets clear policy priorities. First, there is the priority of the second pillar of agricultural policy. Promotion of rural development has the highest rate of increase in the Commission preliminary draft. The Commission believes that this second pillar should constitute a priority in the 2001 budget. A second priority is the economic policy field, namely the development and promotion of Europe as a knowledge-based society. Accordingly, the Commission's PDB includes a marked increase in research expenditure and a revised version of the programme for promoting the small and medium-sized enterprises. It is also proposed that the latter should be combined with the promotion of technology, which was a particular concern of Parliament. The PDB establishes two other priorities: foreign policy, namely aid for the Balkans, and budgetary discipline, an objective with the Commission's preliminary draft fulfils. In the PDB (agricultural expenditure apart), provision is made for commitment appropriations, i.e. the financial commitments which can be entered into, to rise by 1% compared with the previous year. This shows that the PDB accords with the general political tendency for budgetary discipline. For payments (excluding agricultural expenditure), there is a 3% rate of increase. The average rate of growth forecast for Member States' budgets is 3.1%. One qualification must be added, however: the PDB provides for considerable growth in overall agricultural expenditure - 7.6% or, in absolute figures, EUR 3.12 billion. This is basically the result of the decisions which the Heads of State and Government took in 1999 at the Berlin Summit, and the financial perspective is part of the Inter-Institutional Agreement between Parliament, the Council and the Commission which was concluded in 1999. Nevertheless, the appropriation for agricultural policy remains below the ceiling set in Berlin for agricultural policy in the draft budget. To sum up, as far as the full figures are concerned, the PDB provides for an overall increasr of 3.9% in commitment appropriations and 5% in payments. The increase for payments is higher, because the Commission wants to reduce payment obligations further still, not let them grow. Thus the proportion of total Community GNP absorbed by the EU's budget is expected to decline from 1.11% in 2000 to 1.07% in 2001. The Kosovo crisis and the decisions concerning the stability pactin the Balkans have confronted the EU with a new task, the importance of which was again underlined by the Lisbon Council. As financial back-up, the Commission is proposing EUR 815 million in aid for the western Balkans in 2001, on top of 540 million in 2000. This aid is intended for the reconstruction of civil society and does not therefore include the Member States' expenditure on KFOR. The proposal provides for a fixed sum of EUR 40 million for Serbia in 2001. The Commission has proposed that, if political conditions in Serbia change, extra resources can be made available from the flexibility reserve. In addition, it has provided for substantial resources for Serbia in its proposal for the amendment of the financial perspective (2001-2006) as a signal to the political opposition in the country that the EU is ready to inject substantial financial aid, should democracy emerge there. This is the first time that the Commission has presented an activity based budget, i.e. where all expenditure is allocated to policy areas. It is a first, important step towards a structure which will make discussion of policy, including by the public, easier. The PDB provides Parliament and the Council with a good basis for drawing up the 2001 budget, so that resources can be used efficiently for the benefit of the EU and in support of its objectives.�

• 2000/03/30 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T5-0126/2000 summary

    The European Parliament adopted its resolution drafted by Ms. Jutta HAUG (PES, D) on the budgetary guidelines for 2001 (Section III - Commission). The Parliament points out that the structure of the EU budget has to be clear, transparent and easy for the public to understand to reflect the political objectives of the EU and to facilitate supervision of the implementation of the policy measures; the budget document itself must be the practical expression of EU policy. 1) With regard to the budgetary structure, the EP welcomes the Commission's efforts to present the PDB in parallel in the form of an Activity-Based Budget (ABB) the objectives of which are: - to improve administrative performance, transparency and the level of evaluation, and thus to enhance its scope for exerting more clearly targeted and stronger political guidance, - to foster sound management, efficiency and cost-effectiveness in the administration and to reinforce flexibility of the management of Community actions by the Commission. It asks the Commission to ensure that Parliament's horizontal priorities, such as the mainstreaming of green and gender issues, are duly taken into account and highlighted, and that the ABB exercise be applied to all EU expenditure, including the European Development Fund (EDF). It points out that the administrative reform and the introduction of the ABB must not prevent the budgetary authority from exerting its powers over the allocation of the resources it considers necessary to implement EU policies, and must prevent the Commission from binding the implementation of new political priorities to extra human resources or administrative spending. The Parliament welcomes current Commission thinking as regards adding a detailed breakdown of EDF appropriations in an annex, as an important first step towards its integration in the budget; such a step will only be useful if the information includes performance targets to enable the budgetary authority to monitor the efficiency of implementation. 2) On the subject of the implementation of the budget, the EP emphasises the need to strengthen instruments for monitoring not only the quantitative, but in particular the qualitative aspects of the implementation of expenditure, and instructs its committees to continue their efforts concerning the monitoring of budget expenditure, and to develop further their close cooperation; it also instructs its committees to examine quarterly the implementation of the budget on the basis of detailed reports from the Commission. It stresses the need to establish in cooperation with the Council and the Commission, a procedure linking the implementation of the current budget to the establishment of the budget for the following year. It considers that the conclusions from the exercise of the 1998 discharge for Section III (Commission) need to be reflected in the decisions taken in the 2001 budget for the Commission. It calls for a detection and evaluation procedure for identifying non-compliance with the conditions of implementation establishedin the budget and stresses that a procedure should be established to freeze the execution of budget lines if those conditions are not met. 3) The Parliament's Resolution then goes on to highlight a number of specific problems that will need to be dealt with. Some of these relate to: a) Pilot projects and preparatory actions - it expects the Commission to give a positive follow-up to those projects and actions entered in the Budget 2000 by 30/04/2000 and to those entered in future budgets; b) Classification of appropriations - expenditure resulting from international agreements with non-EU countries; c) Natural disasters - the Commission is requested to pay special attention to structural problems of an economic or social character caused by natural disasters and to look favourably on measures to help solve these problems; d) Heading 1: it considers it undesirable that this should be used as a primary financial source for financial needs in the field of external policy; it wants the Commission to put forward a proposal to bring appropriations under sub-heading 1b under differentiated appropriations; with regard to ancillary expenditure, it urges the Commission to make an effort to implement the EP's priorities even when they involve compulsory expenditure; in view of the importance of fisheries, it calls on the Commission to include among its priorities not only resource conservation but also the consolidation and extension of international fisheries agreements and the improvement of working conditions and safety standards in the sector; e) Heading 2: the need for in-depth analysis of the management of the Structural Funds, in particular the externalisation of financing decisions; it urges the Commission and the Member States urgently to review the decision-making procedures in order to avoid a slow start in the implementation of the new funds in 2000, which would inevitably begin to store up problems for the 2001 budget and for future budgets. It also urges the Commission, in view of the large accumulated backlog of appropriations from the previous programming period, to take the necessary action to achieve a significant reduction in the payment period for committed appropriations; f) Heading 3: With regard to the employment initiative, the EP asks the Commission to submit to it, before its first reading of the 2001 budget, a qualitative evaluation of the employment initiative launched in 1998 demonstrating its impact on job creation; it calls on the Commission to concentrate further initiatives on measures to ensure greater integration of micro-enterprises and SMEs into the Information Society in order to strengthen their competitiveness in an international environment, as well as the incorporation of modern IT highways and networks within the TENs programme. Parliament also underlines the importance of appropriate funding for the areas newly introduced or reinforced by the Amsterdam Treaty concerning internal policies and other new common policies in the field of justice and home affairs; it also calls on the Commission to simplify and decentralise procedures for small-scale projects, such as human rights and democratisation projects, which offer high value for little money; g) Heading 5: with respect to OLAF (the anti-fraud office),the Commission is asked to indicate the level of occupancy of the new posts created in 1999 and 2000; h) Heading 6: the EP expresses concern about the future capacity of the reserve for guarantees to finance all requirements for EU lending interventions and suggests that the EU's priorities in terms of future loan interventions should be discussed jointly by the budgetary authority and the Commission to ensure a degree of advance planning of needs.�

• 2000/03/29 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 2000/03/21 Preparatory budgetary report tabled for plenary
  • A5-0070/2000
• 2000/03/21 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading

Documents

• Preparatory budgetary report tabled for plenary: A5-0070/2000
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T5-0126/2000
• Commission preliminary draft budget published: COM(2000)0300
• Debate in Council: 2285
• Council draft budget published: 10299/2000
• Budgetary report tabled for plenary, 1st reading: A5-0300/2000
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T5-0472/2000
• Council amended draft budget published: 13830/2000
• Budgetary report tabled for plenary, 2nd reading: A5-0380/2000
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading: T5-0568/2000
• : Budget 2001/110
• : OJ L 056 26.02.2001, p. 0001

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)