REQUEST FOR THE NON-AUTOMATIC CARRYOVER OF NON-DIFFERENTIATED APPROPRIATIONS FROM 2001 TO 2002 - ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE

(presented by the Commission)

1. Introduction

The appropriations initially entered on the Economic and Social Committee budget for 2001 under Articles 200 (Rent) and 204 (Fitting-out of premises) were as follows:

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Article 204 made provision for refurbishment work on the entrance hall of the Montoyer building to improve its appearance and facilitate access control.

In order to make provision for the possible prepayment of amounts falling due under the lease on the Belliard building, additional appropriations of EUR 1,120,000 were entered under Article 200 by means of a transfer within Chapter 20.

For reasons explained in points 2 and 3 neither the prepayment nor the Montoyer entrance hall project took place.

At the end of the 2001 financial year the following amounts were therefore available:

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2. Reasons for the application for a non-automatic carry-over on Article 204 (Fitting-out of premises)

The appropriations intended for the adaptation and refurbishment of the entrance hall of the Montoyer building were entered on the 2001 budget.

Following the events of 11 September major changes had to be made to the project in order to incorporate security requirements decided at interinstitutional level. This entailed a significant increase in costs and slowed the process down. It was therefore not possible to complete the project on time.

The events of 11 September highlighted the urgent need to improve the security of the Montoyer building at an acceptable on-going cost.

The Montoyer entrance hall therefore needs to be adapted.

As the appropriations available under Article 204 for 2002 are very limited, appropriations not used in 2001 need to be carried over to 2002.

3. Reasons for the application for a non-automatic carry-over on Article 200 (Rent)

As soon as it became clear that appropriations entered under the rent article would remain unused in 2001, the Committees entered into negotiations with the owner of the Belliard building with a view to making a financially advantageous prepayment of amounts falling due under the terms of the lease. In the view of the Court of Auditors the clause in the lease making provision for such prepayments was unacceptable, however.

It was not possible to conclude the negotiations with the owner by the end of the 2001 financial year.

In view of the likely trend of Section V of the financial perspectives, it is essential that all financially advantageous opportunities for prepayment of expenses due to occur in future budget years be exploited.

For these reasons, it is proposed that the amount available under Article 200 be carried over in order to make it possible to continue the negotiations with the owner of the Belliard building with a view to prepayment of amounts falling due under the terms of the lease.

4. Conclusions

For the reasons set out above, the budget authority is asked to approve this application for non-automatic carry-over of the appropriations set out below.

GENERAL BUDGET OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

SECTION VI - ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

Proposal for carry-over of appropriations

Appropriations as at 31/12/2001

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