Activites

• 2003/02/28 Final act published in Official Journal
  • Budget 2003/94
  • OJ L 054 28.02.2003, p. 0001-0999
• 2002/12/19 Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading
  • T5-0624/2002
• 2002/12/17 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 2002/12/10 Vote in committee, 2nd reading
  • A5-0440/2002
• 2002/12/04 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 2nd reading
• #2466
• 2002/11/26 Council Meeting
• 2002/11/26 Council amended draft budget published
  • 13829/2002 summary

    PURPOSE : to establish the second reading of the draft budget for the European Union for the financial year 2003 by the Council (amended draft and proposed modifications) : other budgetary sections). CONTENT : after the meeting with the European Parliament, and on the basis of the preparatory work done by the Permanent Representatives Committee as well as the agreements reached with the European Parliament at the conciliation meeting, the Council reached political agreement at second reading of the draft general budget for 2003. The agreement reached with the Parliament, concerning heading 5 of the budget (administrative expenditure) takes account of the following elements : - the impact of the fall in the actual rate of increase of salaries and pensions (2% instead of 2,6%), - the impact of preliminary draft supplementary and amending budget No 6/2002 on the anticipation in 2002 of expenditure envisaged for 2003 ("frontloading"); - the acceptance of amendments to administrative expenditure in relation to expenditure connected with enlargement; - return to the Council's first reading for the other budget headings except for the Recruitment Office. Examining each of the institutions, the budgetary agreement provides for the following elements: - Section I : European Parliament : in accordance with the Gentlemen's Agreement, none of the measures taken by the European Parliament in its own draft budget was amended; - Section II: Council : financing of the acquis commaunitaire by taking into account the effects of SAB No 6/2002. The amount entered in Chapter 103 (Provisional appropriations: publication of the acquis communautaire) now stands at EUR 1,66 million. - Section III: Commission (Part A) : a technical amendment concerning item 3014 (European master's courses in human rights and democratisation), was accepted. Moreover, as a result of the lower rate of increase in salaries taken for 2003: the amount entered under item 1100 (Basic salaries) now stands at EUR 1 015,936 million. Concerning the remaining sections (Section IV - Court of Justice, Section V - Court of Auditors, Section VI - Economic and Social Committee, Section VII - Committee of the Regions, Section VIII - European Ombudsman and the European Data Protection Supervisor): the budget, as approved by the Council, is characterised by the smaller increase in salaries taken for 2003.�

• 2002/10/24 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T5-0510/2002 summary

    Parliament adopted the report by Mr Per STENMARK (EPP-ED, S) on the EU's 2003 budget in particular on the sections for the institutions of the EU apart from the European Commission. (Sections I, II, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII(a) and VIII(b). (Please refer to the summary dated 10/10/2002).

• 2002/10/22 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 2002/10/10 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A5-0351/2002
• 2002/07/30 Council draft budget published
  • 11138/2002 summary

    The Council reached an agreement on the draft budget for 2003 for the other institutions (except the Commission), it is based on the need to: 1) comply with the annual expenditure ceilings set by the financial perspective for 2000-2006; 2) provide adequate funding for the European Union's various priorities, in particular the enlargement process. The total administrative appropriations for all the institutions (including the European Parliament) is thus set at EUR 5.364.526.883 which represents an increase of 3.6% in comparsion with those for 2002. The salient features of the administrative expenditure of the institutions are given below: - to increase in expenditure to prepare for enlargement : given that the preparation for enlargement is a key priority for 2003. The budgetary authority agrees, within the constraints set by the financial perspective, to provide Community institutions with adequate appropriations and incentives to prepare for enlargement in 2003. The ceiling of heading 5 of the financial perspective in 2003 should be respected and the flexibility instrument for administrative expenditure should not be used, as suggested by the Commission; - to endeavour to finance the publication of the acquis communautaire by means of frontloading and anticipating expenditure in the 2002 budget with the corresponding reduction of pressure in the 2003 budget, while respecting the Gentlemen's Agreement. Both arms of the budgetary authority undertake to facilitate the frontloading procedure, consisting of mopping up transfers within institutions and, where appropriate, a Supplementary and Amending Budget. - to reserve EUR 18 m in a specific and ringfenced reserve in the Council's budget. This specific reserve for the acquis in the Council's budget will be transferred to the Commission's budget in accordance with the frontloading operation, as if it were part of the Commission's budget. û to reserve a margin of EUR 16 million under Heading 5 for eventual needs in particular concerning the European Data Protection Supervisor. The Council intends to follow up on the reports from the Secretaries-General on the evolution of heading 5 and on interinstitutional cooperation, which has already resulted in savings of 0,5% of recurrent expenditure in all institutions. Moreover, the Council accepted exceptional early retirement measures, including for the staff of the political groups of the European Parliament. For payment appropriations, growth in the volume of appropriations was controlled by taking into account in particular the capacity for utilisation, the likely rate of payments under outstanding commitments and constraints upon national budgets. In this context, the overall budget proposed for pre-enlargement allows new posts to be created or appropriations for auxiliary staff to be entered for all the institutions, with particular attention to language requirements. A total of 311 new permanent jobs have been agreed - Council (236), the Court of Justice (53), the Court of Auditors (14), the Economic and Social Committee (7)and the Ombudsman (1). The following elements should also be noted. These are the individual characteristics of each institution: - European Parliament (Section 1) : budget of EUR 1.051.644.375 by applying the "Gentlemen's Agreement", i.e. an increase of 1,6% in comparison with the 2002 budget; - Council (Section II) : budget of EUR 430.013.000 (EUR 18 million in reserve, i.e. an overall increase of 7%; - Court of Justice (Section IV) : budget of EUR 151.637.022 increasing by 2,49% in comparison with 2002; - Court of Auditors (Section V) : budget of EUR 77.443.289, a decrease of 8,6%; - Economic and Social Committee (Section VI) : budget EUR 81.649.960 an increase of 4,22%; - Committee of the Regions (Section VII) : budget of EUR 39.101.436 an increase of 7,41%; - European Ombudsman (Section VIII) : budget of EUR 4.248.648 an increase of 8,6%.�

• #2447
• 2002/07/22 Council Meeting
• #2446
• 2002/07/19 Council Meeting
• #2424
• 2002/05/07 Council Meeting
  • 2424
• 2002/03/12 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T5-0097/2002 summary

    The European Parliament adopted a resolution, drafted by Per STENMARCK (EPP, Sweden), on the 2003 budget guidelines, and on the preliminary draft estimates for other sections. (Please refer to the document dated 26/02/02). The provisional figure for the technical adjustment of the financial perspective project a ceiling of EUR 5382 million for heading 5 in the 2003 budget. Parliament reiterated its concern that the additional needs related to enlargement will have a major impact on heading 5, and invited the Council to examine all the possibilities that interinstitutional cooperation can offer. The projected needs of all the institutions already exceed the ceiling of heading 5 by EUR 140 million. There needs to be an interinstitutional strategic approach to the future building needs of the institutions, to allow the budgetary authority to take stock of current and future buildings liabilities and develop a position on funding over the longer term. On the other sections of the budget: - Section 1: whilst the concept of "controlled multilingualism" is endorsed, a wider debate on the post-enlargement linguistic regime must take place. The secretariats of the political groups must be reinforced to prepare for enlargement. The assistance provided to Members by Parliament's administration and by the secretariats of the political groups for the fulfilment of their legislative and budgetary responsibilities must be enhanced, as these are the core activities. - Section II (Council): on the projected expansion of the Council's budget to cater for developments under the second and third pillars, this creates additional pressure under heading 5. Parliament will make amendments if this contributes to a global solution in heading 5. - Section IV (Court of Justice): The budgetary projections should be scaled down. The requirement of 112 extra posts is not realistic given the current constraints on heading 5. - Section V (Court of Auditors): in view of the difficulties under heading 5, the Court should refrain from requesting additional staff in its 2003 estimates. - Section VI (Economic and Social Committee): Increasing dependence on external expertise could compromise the legitimacy of the institution. A more focused work programme should be adopted so that the impact of its opinions can be increased.

• 2002/03/11 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• #2414
• 2002/03/05 Council Meeting
  • 2414 summary

    The Council reiterates its view that the Community budget must suitably cover all real needs and the resources required to implement the various polcies of the Union effectively. It emphasises that this includes applying the same degree of budgetary restraint as exercised by Member States of the Union. The Council stresses once again the importance of keeping a tight grip on payment appropriations for 2003. The Council regrets the shortcomings in budgetary implementation for 2000 which resulted in the figure for that year greatly overshooting that of the previous years. The Council points to the need to keep the level of outstanding commitments under control. It welcomes the agreement reached in November 2001 between the two arms of the budgetary authority and the Commission aimed at eliminating abnormal outstanding commitments in the medium term. In this context, the Council stresses the fact that the reduction of abnormal outstanding commitments can be achieved not only by an increase of appropriations for payments but also by a significant resource to decommitments. In this agreement, the Commission made a commitment to submit, with the preliminary draft budget for 2003, an action plan that foresees examining all the potentially abnormal files. The Council invites the Commission to undertake this task without delay. It intends to pay close attention to the monitoring of the action plan. With regard in particular to heading 5, the Council expects the search for potential savings to continue so that the ceiling under heading 5 is not overstepped and calls on all institutions to work to this end and to submit forecasts for 2003 showing a growth rate compatible with the adjustment rate agreed for the financial perspective and the forecast increase in pensions. Moreover, it believes that better multiannual programming of their property expenditure by the institutions is one way of keeping administrative under the ceiling for heading 5. The Council is actively pursuing its work with a view to preparing the enlargement of the European Union to include the candidate countries and emphasises the need for precise evaluation of future budgetary implications. The Council wishes these guidelines to be taken into account in the budget procedure, particularly in the preparation of the preliminary draft budget for 2003.�

• 2002/02/26 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A5-0064/2002

Documents

• Budgetary report tabled for plenary, 1st reading: A5-0064/2002
• Debate in Council: 2414
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T5-0097/2002
• Debate in Council: 2424
• Council draft budget published: 11138/2002
• Budgetary report tabled for plenary, 1st reading: A5-0351/2002
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T5-0510/2002
• Council amended draft budget published: 13829/2002
• Budgetary report tabled for plenary, 2nd reading: A5-0440/2002
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading: T5-0624/2002
• : Budget 2003/94
• : OJ L 054 28.02.2003, p. 0001-0999

History

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