No C 212/12 Official Journal of the European Communities 12. 8. 88 
II 
(Preparatory Acts) 
COURT OF AUDITORS 
OPINION No 6/88 
of the Court of Auditors of the European Communities on a proposal for the amendment of 
Article 12 of Regulation (EEC) No 2891/77 implementing the Decision of 21 April 1970 on the 
replacement of financial contributions from Member States by the Communities' own resources 
(88/C 212/04) 
THE COURT OF AUDITORS OF THE EUROPEAN 
COMMUNITIES 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community, and in particular Article 209 
thereof, 
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 
2891/77 of 19 December 1977 implementing the 
Decision of 21 April 1970 on the replacement of 
financial contributions from Member States by the 
Communities' own resources ('), 
Having regard to the Commission proposal, presented at 
the meeting of the ECO-FIN Council of 15 June 1987, 
Having regard to the request for consultation of the 
Court of Auditors, submitted by the Council and 
received by the Court on 7 March 1988, 
Whereas the aim of the proposal is to introduce funda­
mental amendments to the Community legal and 
financial systems, without any explicit statement of 
reasons; 
Whereas the aim of the proposal is, firstly, to amend 
Article 12 (2) of Regulation (EEC) No 2891/77, which 
defines the cash facility on which the Commission may 
draw if its spending needs are in excess of the balances 
on its accounts with the national Treasuries; 
Whereas, by providing in the proposed new wording that 
the cash facility thus offered shall be used 'subject to the 
availability of appropriations in the budget and within 
the limit of total available revenue', the proposal codifies 
certain general principles of law which were merely 
(l) OJ L 336, 21.12.1977, p. 1. implicit in the previous wording, and therefore 
constitutes a step forwards; 
Whereas the proposal rightly refers to the idea of 'total 
available revenue', thus covering, in addition to 'own 
resources', such revenue of a contributory nature as may 
also form part of the financing of the Community 
budget; whereas this approach is indeed in accordance 
with the principles of unity and universality of the 
budget, which, as the Court has stressed in its previous 
opinions, are of paramount importance; 
Whereas the aim of the proposal is, secondly, to 
introduce a new paragraph into Article 12 with the 
object of making it possible, in cases where the 
Community's cash resources have been depleted, for cash 
resources from the Member States to be used to offset 
the effects of measures necessary for ensuring 
compliance with the Community's obligations towards its 
suppliers of funds in the event of default by the recipient 
of a loan contracted pursuant to regulations and 
decisions of the Council, and in the event that the 
Commission should not be able to activate other 
measures provided for by the financial provisions 
applying to these loans in time to ensure compliance with 
its obligations; 
Whereas, according to the Council regulations and 
decisions which authorize such lending and borrowing/ 
lending operations, the Commission has a formal legal 
obligation to service the debt and to ensure the 
repayment of the borrowings which it has contracted on 
behalf of the Community and the implementation of the 
Community guarantee provided in respect of certain 
loans granted by the EIB from its own resources; 
whereas these Community guarantee obligations have for 
that purpose also been given material form by means of 
token entries under the corresponding budget headings; 
Whereas the proposal might make it possible for 
amounts corresponding to the implementation of the 
budgetary guarantee to be met, on a temporary basis, 
out of cash resources without this being contingent upon 
the said budget lines being duly supplied with funds; 
12,8 ^ Official journal of the European Communities l^oC212B13 
whereas the aim of the proposal is also to authorize calls 
for cash resources from the Member States, if necessary 
in excess of the limits laid down under Articlel2^as 
reworded by the proposal whereas such latitude, in 
addition to bein^ contrary to the general principles 
codified in Articlel2^,may,in view of the amount of 
outstanding loans and potential defaults, result in the 
Commissions having to pay out, in order to honour the 
Community guarantee, sums in excess of the 
Community^ available cash resources,or even in excess 
of all the available appropriations entered in the 
Community budget, 
^5AU^I^OTrT^e^^^ 
^ the Court approves the proposal for the amendment 
of Article 12 ^ tothe extent that it aims toseta 
clear limit on the implementation of the cash facility 
granted to the Commission for the purpose of 
implementing thebud^et^ it notes that the wording 
adopted is in accordance with the principles of the 
balance, unity and universality of the bud^et^ d^ the Court is aware that the Community guarantee 
must be honoured in the event of default by the 
recipientofaloan,nevertheless, the Court considers 
that provisions aliowin^ the consequences of the 
guarantee to be borne directly out of cash resources 
cannot be introduced without prior budgetary 
authority^ 
^ furthermore, the Court considers that the proposal 
mustbeamended, insofar as its aimis to authorize 
calls on cash resources from Member States in order 
to cope with defaults by recipients of loans, which 
cails may in some cases be in excess of the hmits 
provided under Article 12 ^ of the proposals i^ 
considers that the remedy to such a situation 
similarly requires a prior decision by thebud^etary 
authority, 
Thisopinionwasadoptedby theCourtof Auditorson 
1^ July 1^8