Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-09-23-Speech-2-156"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20030923.5.2-156"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, it is a great honour and privilege for me to present, on behalf of the Presidency of the Council, the draft budget of the European Communities for the year 2004, as established by the Council on 18 July 2003.
In addition to the above, the Council was guided by the following principles in establishing the draft budget for 2004: examination in the autumn, as provided for in the Interinstitutional Agreement, of an amending letter concerning agricultural expenditure, in order to take account of the updated estimates of requirements, without immediately ruling out a reduction in appropriations for agricultural expenditure. The letter of amendment should also take into account the effects of the revision of the common agricultural policy and any requirements related thereto.
The second guiding principle was honouring of the commitments written into the Financial Perspective for structural measures
Regarding the level of payment appropriations, the Council, like last year, invited the Commission to present a preliminary draft amending budget if the appropriations included in the 2004 budget for the Structural Funds - as well as for agricultural expenditure - prove insufficient to cover the payments to be made. Moreover, the Council noted that the payment appropriations included in the 2004 budget concerning programming periods prior to 2002 are intended for financing measures which have been suspended for legal reasons and similar situations.
The third principle was the identification of genuine requirements within the financial envelope for internal policies
taking into account the possibilities for implementation of appropriations and bearing in mind the need to maintain a margin below the ceiling for that heading of the Financial Perspective.
The Council applied the same principle when deciding on amounts for external action
In this connection, the Council asked the Commission not to pre-programme the equivalent of 15% of the appropriations for humanitarian aid.
Concerning, more specifically, the common foreign and security policy budget, what is known as the CFSP budget, the Council included in the draft budget a CFSP budget amounting to EUR 52.6 million in commitment and payment appropriations, transferring EUR 2 million for the peace and stabilisation process - budget line 19 03 03 - to line 19 07 04 and also creating a new line to contain appropriations (transferred from the Council's section of the budget) for the Special Representatives. The new line for Special Representatives is allocated EUR 3.1 million.
A fifth principle was the acceptance of the preliminary draft budget for expenditure on pre-accession aid
concerning commitment appropriations. Regarding the level of payment appropriations, the Council has asked the Commission to submit a preliminary draft amending budget if the payment appropriations entered in the 2004 budget for pre-accession aid are insufficient to cover the payments to be made.
Finally, with regard to administrative expenditure, the Council stresses the importance of maintaining a sufficient margin below the ceiling of heading 5 of the Financial Perspective in line with sound financial management.
While agreeing to a rigorous approach for heading 5, the Council stressed that the appropriations and the items necessary for the success of enlargement should be provided for in the 2004 budget. The end result must, without a doubt, be a margin very close to the margin which resulted from the Council's first reading. The Council considers that the opportunity afforded by the accession of ten new Member States should be exploited and additional endeavours made to increase the effectiveness of the organisational structures and management of the institutions.
I must also add that the Council reserves the right, as provided for in the budgetary procedure, to return to the question of the posts requested by the Commission, provided that the Commission presents new arguments, in particular as regards vacant posts.
In the establishment of the draft budget, there was particular focus on the possibilities for implementation of the appropriations. Thus, in deciding the amount of payment appropriations to be entered in the draft budget, the Council duly took into account the rate of implementation of previous years.
The budget for the year 2004 is of historic significance, first and foremost because it takes into account the enlargement of the European Union to 25 States next May. The preparation of the institutions for enlargement started with the current budget. At the same time, this is the first budget to be established according to the new Activity-Based Budgeting presentation.
Concerning the rate of growth of the overall payment appropriations, the Council stresses, in particular, the importance of budgetary discipline and sound financial management, and the need to keep the rate of increase of the overall payment appropriations as low as possible, taking into account the results of its first reading. Recent examples of huge surpluses and reimbursements of unused payment appropriations should certainly guide us in the direction of sensible budgeting with regard to the total amount of payment appropriations, resulting in realistic estimations of payment appropriations which are genuinely needed during the budgetary year.
The Council’s concern regarding the level of payment appropriations is even more understandable and important in the current economic climate, in which – as you are all aware - national budgets are facing serious difficulties.
As you have all received a comprehensive explanatory memorandum, I do not think that it is necessary to make a detailed presentation now. However, I would like to underline the main points of this draft budget in the fields covered by the different headings of the Financial Perspective:
As regards heading 1, relating to agricultural expenditure, the Council has accepted an across-the-board cut of EUR 160 million in the appropriations requested in the preliminary draft budget for all budget lines under subheading 1a - Market expenditure - where the amount of appropriations is greater than EUR 1 billion. This reduction is in line with the overall approach of controlled growth of payment appropriations. I must stress the fact that this approach concerns both headings that include compulsory expenditure and headings that include non-compulsory expenditure, like subheading 1a. As regards subheading 1b, dealing with rural development, the Council has accepted the amounts proposed by the Commission.
Regarding heading 2, relating to
structural operations, commitment appropriations have been fully budgeted as proposed by the Commission, in accordance with the conclusions of the March 1999 Berlin European Council. Concerning payment appropriations, an across-the-board reduction of EUR 138 million has been applied for the budget lines concerning Community initiatives, due to the under-implementation of corresponding budget headings in previous years. Moreover, EUR 22 million in payment appropriations proposed by the Commission for the scrapping of fishing vessels have not been accepted, consistently with the rejection of corresponding commitment appropriations in 2003.
As regards heading 3, concerning internal policies, the Council has accepted the amounts proposed by the Commission for the 15-Member State Union relating to multiannual programmes adopted under the codecision procedure. As regards appropriations included in the draft budget relating to codecided programmes for the 25-Member State Union, I must, of course, stress that they are provisional, pending an agreement on new reference amounts, which are currently under discussion. In addition, it has increased the proposed amounts for some budget lines that are not based on multiannual programmes. Appropriations have also been reduced for subsidies for a number of agencies while, at the same time, account has been taken of the special situation of agencies that are new or starting up. It has decided not to accept two new areas of preparatory actions relating to chemical products and to the security of supply of conventional forms of energy. At the same time, the Council has accepted only partially the new preparatory action for European security research. It has decided on an increase in appropriations for the Argo programme, to take account of the conclusions of the European Council of 19 and 20 June 2003, for the forest protection programmes and for Prince, an information programme, specifically the part dealing with the promotion of the European Union's role in the world.
I feel that the Council has provided adequate funding for priorities within heading 3. A margin of EUR 77.78 million has been left below the ceiling of the heading, allowing the European Parliament to finance its own priorities and preserving the possibility of financing future requirements.
As regards heading 4, relating to external action, I can assure you that the Council has accepted the appropriations proposed by the Commission across the board. However, the Council has reduced some appropriations, making small cuts in a limited number of non-geographical budget lines; it has made a slight cut in the appropriations for geographical headings other than those relating to the Balkans, for which the amount entered in the preliminary draft budget has been accepted. It has accepted the amount proposed in the preliminary draft budget for the CFSP budget, together with two transfers of appropriations, one from the CFSP budget to transitional civilian administrations for the Stability Pact and the other from the Council budget to the CFSP budget, giving a final total for the CFSP budget of EUR 52.6 million, as already explained. It has also accepted the appropriations proposed by the Commission for international fisheries agreements.
The Council has left a margin of EUR 145.95 million below the ceiling of heading 4, allowing the European Parliament to finance its own priorities and ensuring that it will be possible to finance future needs.
As regards heading 5, relating to administrative expenditure, the Council's scrutiny of the institutions' administrative expenditure was based on the following principles. One: leaving an adequate margin within the ceiling under heading 5, in the interests of sound financial management. This margin should incorporate an amount for the future budget of the European Data Protection Supervisor. Two: making allowance, in expenditure, for the impact of the revision of the Staff Regulations following the political agreement reached within the Council on 19 May 2003. Three: limiting the increase in current expenditure to 2.7% in 2003, this being the maximum rate of increase for the 15-Member State Union. Four: accepting exceptional expenditure put forward by institutions, such as the move of the Commission to the Berlaymont building or the replacement of members of the Commission or of the Court of Justice. Five: not accepting the creation of new posts or upgrading of posts for ordinary purposes, save in exceptional cases. Six: accepting all the new posts requested for enlargement according to language requirements; the minor reductions in other posts requested were mainly for C and D posts; the period for which posts approved have been budgeted for in the draft budget is 6 months. Seven: accepting most of the appropriations requested for enlargement. Eight: accepting the pensions appropriations, after making allowance for the impact of the revision of the Staff Regulations. Nine: placing in reserve the appropriations intended for subsidies under the former Chapter A-30, in the absence of legal bases, which are currently under discussion. The result is that a margin of EUR 128.45 million is left below the ceiling for heading 5.
The draft budget that I am going to present to you incorporates a number of items that were discussed at length during the traditional conciliation meeting last July. I am sure that cooperation in budgetary matters, as set out by the Interinstitutional Agreement of 6 May 1999, initiated with trialogues and the July conciliation meeting, will continue for the rest of the year, and that it will allow the two arms of the budgetary authority, with the assistance of the Commission, to adopt a budget for 2004 which is satisfactory in all respects by the end of this budgetary procedure.
I will end my presentation of the different headings of the Financial Perspective with heading 7, relating to pre-accession instruments, for which the draft budget includes the proposed commitment appropriations. As regards payment appropriations, the Council requested a cut of EUR 100 million, in order to take into account underimplementation in previous years.
In conclusion, I think that this draft budget provides adequate funding for the European Union's various priorities while, at the same time, preparing the Union and its institutions so that enlargement can take place under the best possible conditions.
We all know that this budgetary procedure is only at the beginning and that there is still a long way to go until the final adoption of the budget for 2004 in December. I believe that all the necessary conditions are there for a satisfactory budget to be achieved at the end of the year.
I am sure that all three Institutions represented here today - European Parliament, Council and Commission - will do their utmost to give the European Union the necessary means to take up the challenges that await us, bearing in mind that this budget is ultimately financed, as always, by the citizens of the European Union. In particular, I hope that we will reach agreement not only on the 2004 budget for the 15-Member State Union but also on the figures that will be entered in an amending budget for the 25-Member State Union to be adopted in 2004, so that the integration of the new Members States into the Union will be a success.
The Council used the preliminary draft budget of the European Communities submitted by the Commission on 30 April as the basis for establishing the draft budget. The preliminary draft budget contained figures for the 25-Member State Union but, for purely legal reasons, the Council adopted a draft budget for 2004 for the 15-Member State Union, while also agreeing on a position for the 25-Member State Union with a view to achieving a political agreement with the European Parliament by the end of the budgetary procedure. The figures concerning the draft budget established by the Council that I will mention today thus relate to the 15-Member State Union. The transition to a budget for the 25-Member State Union will then be made during the first part of 2004 by means of a specific amending budget.
The Council established a draft budget for 2004 that includes commitment appropriations for a total of EUR 100.066 billion. This represents an increase of 0.4% over the 2003 budget. It should be noted that this is the first time that the draft budget has exceeded the EUR 100 billion mark in commitments. It includes payment appropriations for a total of EUR 95.034 billion. This represents a decrease of 2.54% on the 2003 figure.
The total payment appropriations provided for in the draft budget amount to 0.98% of Community Gross National Income.
The draft budget for 2004 established by the Council takes into due consideration the Interinstitutional Agreement of 6 May 1999 on budgetary discipline and improvement of the budgetary procedure. Moreover, it is fully in line with the Council's conclusions on the budget guidelines for 2004 adopted in March 2003. Lastly, it takes into account the conclusions of the conciliation meeting of 16 July 2003 between the European Parliament and the Council, with the participation of the European Commission.
In particular, we endeavoured to comply with the annual expenditure ceilings set by the Financial Perspective for 2002-2006, to leave, where possible, adequate margins below the ceiling for the various headings, with the exception of headings 2 and 7, and, lastly, to provide sufficient funding for the European Union's various priorities.
Concerning more specific points, the Council made some changes to the nomenclature proposed by the Commission in the preliminary draft budget and, as in the past, rejected the inclusion of the European Development Fund in the general budget. Generally speaking, it followed the classification proposed by the Commission in its preliminary draft budget, while emphasising that all expenditure concerning pensions, the common agricultural policy, veterinary and plant health, and international fisheries agreements constitute compulsory expenditure pursuant to the Interinstitutional Agreement."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples