A4-0076/96

Resolution on the guidelines for the 1997 budget procedure - Section III - Commission

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the current financial perspective adopted as part of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 29 October 1993 on budgetary discipline and improvement of the budgetary procedure,

- having regard to the ceiling on EU own resources fixed at the Edinburgh European Council in December 1992,

- having regard to the Court of Auditors' Annual Report on the 1994 financial year ((OJ C 303, 14.11.1995.)),

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets and the opinions of the Committee on Social Affairs and Employment, the Committee on Regional Policy and the Committee on Research, Technological Development and Energy (A4-0076/96);

A. whereas the principles laid down in the Treaty on European Union must be complied with in the budgetary sphere,

B. whereas the institutions of the European Union have a duty to make effective and optimum use of Community funds, in the context of the resources available, taking into account the economic and budgetary constraints acting on the Member States,

C. whereas European citizens must be better informed about and play a more active role in the measures implemented by the Union and the projects developed in the framework of that Union,

D. having regard to the priorities set out by President Santer and Commissioner Liikanen to the European Parliament, stressing the need for a budget which will foster employment creation,

E. whereas the European Union must be seen to work democratically and with greater transparency,

F. whereas the increase in the financial framework for 1997 on the basis of the financial perspective will be only some 4%, as against 7% in 1996, which makes efforts to seek budgetary savings even more essential,

G. whereas the downward trend in the value of the ECU vis-à-vis the Belgian franc has been reversed, leading to a lower increase than forecast,

H. whereas, ultimately, the 1997 budget must be seen in the context of the positive outcome of the Intergovernmental Conference,

GENERAL REMARKS

1. Warns the Member State governments against the budgetary uncertainty which will continue until the own resources decision has been ratified, and the likely consequences should the 1992 decisions not enter into force;

2. Takes the view that any failure to implement the own resources decision will lead to a deficit in payment appropriations of roughly ECU 2.4 billion in 1997, thereby preventing the EU from meeting its commitments vis-à-vis farmers (EAGGF Guarantee), the regions (Structural Funds), the trans-European networks, third countries, including under the PHARE, TACIS and MEDA programmes, and the reconstruction of the former Yugoslavia;

3. Believes it is difficult to provide adequate funding, within the current financial perspective, for the principal policies of the EU;

4. Reiterates its determination to adopt a 1997 budget which is more closely in keeping with citizens' wishes, which creates jobs, and which assists the Member States in their efforts to achieve the convergence criteria laid down by the Treaty on European Union for the completion of economic and monetary Union; asks the Commission to propose to the budgetary authority, within the ceilings set by the Commission in its proposal of 28 February 1996 for the adjustment of the financial perspective to take account of the conditions of implementation (SEC(96)0336), to finance the total agricultural expenditure, including that for the PHARE programme, in heading 1, in order to finance the new needs of the Union for 1997, without Member States increasing their contributions to the Community budget;

5. Stresses, on the other hand, the need for the Council to enable such an orientation to be agreed by opening an early dialogue with the European Parliament in order to define common priorities for all European Union expenditure;

6. In this context, invites the Commission and Council to agree to hold conciliation meetings before the first reading of the budgetary procedure; in that event, each arm of the budgetary authority will take steps to ensure that the results obtained at these conciliation meetings are respected throughout the budgetary procedure;

7. Takes the view that the 1997 budget must meet the following priorities:

- strengthening the measures to encourage job creation and economic and social cohesion by means of investment in infrastructure and research, support for SMEs and the development of human resources, particularly with actions against youth unemployment and continued social exclusion;

- increasing the capacity of the EU to improve effectiveness in the management of its external policy;

- greater regard for environmental imperatives in the implementation of EU policies (such as agriculture and transport);

8. Calls on the Commission to propose a substantial initiative in the field of refugee policy, taking into account the internal and external aspects, with special regard to the idea of shared responsibility between Member States of the European Union;

9. Strongly underlines its determination to continue to monitor closely the implementation of the EU budget, emphasizing the quality more than the quantity of expenditure, and, in this respect, to pursue the efforts to fight fraud; requests that the Notenboom-Bourlanges procedure be brought forward to 31 August 1996 with the Commission's specific report on execution of the 1996 budget; in its search for value for money, believes that the 1997 budget must focus on the following issues:

- first steps towards restructuring designed to make Community administration more effective and flexible and its buildings policy more coherent;

- continuing to rationalize the information policy of the European Union, encouraging the development of an interinstitutional system;

- closer surveillance of the resources invested in third countries, not least by revising the management of Union delegations;

considers that the selective use of the reserve will be very helpful in achieving the specific objectives set out above;

10. Recalls its resolution of 12 December 1995 on the Commission's communication to the budgetary authority concerning legal bases and maximum amounts ((OJ C 17, 22.1.1996, p. 27.)), in particular the obligation, laid down in the Treaty, to ensure that the budget is drawn up and operates without hindrance; with that aim in view, is prepared to examine suitable solutions capable of achieving the objectives laid down in the Treaty and resolving the problems of legal bases through a trialogue;

Classification

11. Welcomes the opening of negotiations with the Council on the classification of expenditure following the agreement of 21 December 1995 paving the way for the definitive adoption of the 1995 budget; takes the view that the trialogue of 16 April 1996 should achieve significant progress on the issue; takes the view, further, that a genuine solution to the problems of classification requires a thoroughgoing revision of the Treaties, involving a new institutional balance, with Parliament playing a more active role in the legislative process (broadening of the Article 189b procedure), and, at the same time, codecision powers for the two arms of the budgetary authority in respect of the entire budget;

12. Takes the view that these negotiations should lead to an agreement on the amounts to be entered in the budget and thus enable the Union to meet its commitments, for example as regards the EAGGF Guarantee Section and international fisheries agreements; points out, further, that the budget procedure cannot call into question legislative decisions governing the various Union policies;

13. In view of the above priorities and after having consulted the specialized committees, decides not to limit this resolution to the budgetary priorities which are listed in preceding paragraphs; considers it useful to examine, heading by heading, the problems to which particular attention should be paid during the 1997 procedure;

Heading 1: Agriculture

14. Calls on the Council, prior to the submission of the preliminary draft budget (PDB), to reach agreement on the method to be adopted for the consideration of all agricultural expenditure with a view to assessing accurately the financial requirements of the EAGGF;

15. Calls on the Commission to submit along with the PDB documents setting out, heading by heading, the hypotheses which determined the amount proposed, including the various 'options' envisaged;

16. Instructs its competent committees to submit to plenary, before the July 1996 conciliation meeting with the Council, a report on the outcome of the ad hoc procedure provided for in the Interinstitutional Agreement;

Heading 2: Structural measures

17. Notes that the rate of non-utilization of Structural Fund appropriations has reached alarming levels (ECU 1.7 bn in 1994 and ECU 2 bn in 1995) and instructs its Committee on Budgetary Control, therefore, to draw up a special report on the reasons for this non-utilization; calls on the Commission, with the help of national authorities, to forward to the budgetary authority by 1 September a report on the causes of this problem with the aim of improving financial planning, expediting payments and facilitating compliance with implementation rules;

18. Calls on the Commission to comply with the European Parliament's resolutions, in particular those of 5 May 1994 on various Community initiatives ((OJ C 205, 25.7.1994, p. 412.)) and 28 March 1996 on the allocation of the reserve for Community initiatives for the period up to the end of 1999 ((Part II, Item 10(a) of these Minutes.)), particularly as regards the consolidation of industrial initiative programmes such as RECHAR, RETEX and KONVER and the REGIS II programme; takes the view that, in a context of transnational cooperation, complementarity between INTERREG and MEDA should be strengthened;

19. Stresses that taking the environment into account in the Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund is an on-going process which now needs to be developed on the basis of appropriate monitoring;

20. Stresses that measures to assist SMEs must be tailored as a matter of priority to undertakings geared to innovation and growth regardless of their sector of activity; invites the Commission to present a comprehensive initiative for the SMEs to facilitate their full utilization of the internal market. The initiative should be made up on the basis of existing programmes; structural programmes such as TACIS, PHARE and MEDA should be evaluated in order to contribute to this end;

Heading 3: Internal policies

Social policy

21. Points out that the appropriations earmarked for social measures, including those for the fourth equal opportunities programme, have been particularly badly affected by the cuts made in previous financial years, even though the Union has stated its firm intention of committing itself to the fight against unemployment; calls on the Commission, therefore, to take the steps needed to put forward proposals to that effect, taking into account the fact that a number of programmes are currently blocked, not least as a result of problems involving legal bases;

Justice and Internal Affairs

22. Deplores the inability of the Member States to agree on clear and multiannual priorities for the financing of the measures in this area, owing to their lack of political will; believes that the implementation of joint actions in this area needs to respect the Financial Regulation which, in particular, provides for a central role for the Commission; believes that supervision by the European Parliament, as part of the budgetary authority, of expenditure under Title VI of the TEU should be strengthened; believes that Community funding in justice and internal affairs is necessary;

Trans-European networks

23. Under the constraints of budgetary rigour that the national stabilisation policies and the steps to convergence impose, takes the view that the realisation of the trans-European networks, as decided at the European Councils of Essen and Madrid, is needed to stimulate economic activity and employment; considers that the funding should be concentrated on tangible projects (and not studies), taking care nevertheless to examine and control their environmental impact;

24. Further considers that financing the trans-European networks remains a priority, and, on the basis of the recommendations laid down by the Madrid European Council, calls for adequate financing to be provided through the revision of the financial perspective, taking account of measures such as those that ensure the progressive coverage of costs through payments made by the users, and those that provide supplementary funding through loans and financial guarantees; asks the Commission to report back to the European Parliament before the end of July 1996 on the impact of the investment into the TENs for job creation;

Youth, culture and media

25. Sees a need to continue in 1997 the measures taken during the previous financial year, including that involving voluntary service for young people, in conjunction with the other programmes adopted under the codecision procedure, such as Socrates and Youth for Europe; calls on the Commission in its promotion of cultural activities to give priority to the European dimension;

26. Calls on the Commission to improve interinstitutional cooperation to continue the information programmes agreed in 1996 for European citizens, and especially young people, and to ensure in particular that the programme on information dialogue is put into practice, and to proceed towards the long-term goal of an EU information system;

Equal opportunities

27. Calls on the Commission to implement in full the agreed principle of integrating equal opportunities for women and men into all Community policies and activities (mainstreaming), and for this to be reflected in the budget for 1997;

Greening

28. Welcomes the 'greening' of the budget in the sphere of the Structural Funds; takes the view, however, that this trend should be consolidated in areas such as agriculture and transport, and energy technology (on the basis of the Thermie, Save and Alterner programmes); calls on the Commission to establish a Task Force for Green Technology, and to submit, in the PDB, information for assessing environmental impact in the sectors concerned; calls on its committees concerned to establish a dialogue on this matter with the Commission;

Research and technology

29. Recalls that the revision and possible increase in the funding of the fourth framework programme on research, technological development and demonstration, as provided for in European Parliament and Council Decision No 1110/94/EC of 26 April 1994 ((OJ L 126, 18.5.1994, p. 1.)), requires a substantial revision of the present ceiling in heading 3 of the financial perspective; urges the Council, therefore, to reach an agreement with Parliament as soon as possible on the adjustment of the financial perspective;

30. Considers that any increase in the funding of the fourth framework programme on research, technological development and demonstration should be accompanied by an agreement on the utilization of the supplementary funding, in order to guarantee the competitiveness of European industry and allow small and medium-sized enterprises to respond to environmental needs and to contribute to more employment; reiterates that it calls for research-related administrative expenditure to be transferred to Part A of the budget;

Fisheries policy

31. Calls on the Commission to accompany the proposals of the PDB for Chapter B2-90 (marine control, inspection and surveillance concerning fisheries) with documents setting out, on a line-by-line basis, the assumptions behind the sum proposed;

Agencies

32. Reminds the Commission to present a proposal, before its first reading, with a view to harmonizing the regulations of the agencies in budgetary and budgetary control matters as concluded during the November 1995 trialogue on the 1996 budget; recalls that the European Trade Mark Office (Alicante) and the European Medicines Agency (London) have submitted to Parliament financial forecasts with declining contributions from the European Union's budget, which should be maintained until the agencies are able to finance themselves from their income; those agencies that are envisaged to be self-financing shall reduce the contributions from the general budget according to their own budgetary incomes;

Transport

33. Emphasizes the importance of transport policy for economic growth and employment; stresses that transport policy has to be monitored for sustainability and guarantee a high level of security for the users and should also be orientated to more environment-friendly modes of transport; considers, therefore, that combined transport should be promoted;

Heading 4 : External policies

34. Points out that the efforts made to assist countries close to the Union should not be carried out to the detriment of the Union's responsibilities in the rest of the world;

35. Regards it as essential, in this connection, to support the measures taken by the Union to assist the developing countries, not least by refocusing the measures to protect the environment and, more particularly, tropical forests;

36. Recalls its long-standing commitment to partnership with developing countries both through the instruments of the ACP-EU Convention and through cooperation policies actually financed through the EU budget; emphasizes in this context that it will remain vigilant concerning the quality of the EU aid effort, and as regards the efficiency of aid management; emphasizes that any possible financing of the EDF from the Union budget in 1997 and the following years requires a revision of the ceilings in heading 4 of the financial perspective and encompasses raising the own resources ceiling in line with the existing financing of the EDF;

37. Calls on the Commission to put forward clearly defined priorities for Union financial assistance in the context of external policies, via projects under the three major programmes: PHARE, TACIS and MEDA and the requisite measures to finance reconstruction in the former Yugoslavia, whose effectiveness and specific features can make Community action more visible in a world context; remains convinced that such measures cannot be implemented without increasing the resources currently available;

38. Points out that financial support for traditional recipient countries must be maintained and that it would be advisable not to dilute existing resources for these programmes (PHARE, TACIS and MEDA) by spreading them across countries other than the original beneficiaries; calls on the Commission to draw up a report clarifying the actual distribution of the resources; calls on the Commission to provide for stringent monitoring and more effective implementation of all projects funded in the framework of TACIS, PHARE and MEDA; reminds the Commission and Council that political commitments concerning any future enlargement should be compatible with the budgetary resources and priorities of the Union;

39. Welcomes the strengthening and development of the CFSP, taking into account an increasing number of joint actions with Parliament involvement, on condition that the rules set out in the Treaty and the Financial Regulation for its implementation will be respected; calls on the Council to endorse these principles;

40. Calls on the Commission, with a view to achieving more effective supervision and increased transparency of expenditure in the sphere of international fisheries agreements and financial protocols, to improve the information supplied to Parliament during the negotiations and after their conclusion and to report on the implementation of the agreements and protocols and to subdivide heading B7-800 (international fisheries agreements) into three separate headings, i.e.:

- a heading on the agreements in force;

- a heading on the new agreements and the agreements due for renewal during the budget year; appropriations entered under this heading shall only be released after Parliament has delivered its opinion;

- a heading on the international organizations;

41. Believes that an essential feature of the Union's agreements with other parts of the world is better cultural understanding and that this aim should be included within the appropriate protocols and calls on the Commission to pay full attention to the need for improved cultural understanding;

Heading 5: Administrative expenditure

42. Is aware that economic trends will impose significant constraints on heading 5 of the financial perspective, with an increase in the appropriations available of 3.1% in real terms; notes, however, that a margin of ECU 62.3 m is available under the ceiling for that heading in 1996; expresses its concern at the increase in the volume of pensions covered by the Community budget;

43. Calls on the Commission to submit a document assessing interinstitutional cooperation in order to put a figure on the savings in terms of appropriations and human resources achieved in 1996 and to draw appropriate conclusions in the 1997 PDB;

44. Calls on the Commission to put forward, at the PDB stage, stricter criteria to govern certain expenditure on studies, seminars and congresses currently financed, with no particular justification, from operating expenditure; draws attention, further, to the calls made during the previous procedure for the establishment of fresh criteria for the allocation of the subsidies provided for in Title A3 of the budget and subsidies in other parts of the budget allocated with the same objectives in view;

45. Stresses that the Community constitutes its own property assets; therefore invites all the institutions as part of continuing interinstitutional cooperation work, to draw up a proposal enabling property expenditure to be grouped together within one section of the budget, with due regard for the provisions of the Financial Regulation and, in particular, the articles therein concerning sound financial management, cost-effectiveness and the structure and presentation of the budget;

Establishment plan

46. Takes the view that 1997 should see the consolidation of the Commission's establishment plan, quite apart from the continued creation of posts following the enlargement; recalls its resolution of 21 April 1994 on the staff policy of the European institutions ((OJ C 128, 9.5.1994, p. 366.)) calling for a detailed screening of services to be carried out every two and a half years in order to evaluate needs in accordance with the new political priorities, and, in that connection, calls for a report to be submitted to the budgetary authority before Parliament's first reading;

47. Calls on the Commission, on the basis of the posts (category and grade) created by the budgetary authority in connection with enlargement, to give figures in their budgetary estimates for the number of posts filled and occupied by nationals of the new Member States and the number of vacant posts which fall under this heading;

48. Strongly criticizes the Commission for having unilaterally adjusted the decision by the budgetary authority concerning the allocation of posts within the Commission services in the 1996 budget which had fully responded to the Commission's initial request; takes the view that the 1997 budget will not allocate any new posts, should the screening process reveal the need, until a specific proposal is made by the Commission to the budgetary authority on the allocation of human resources in January 1997 after the 1997 budget has been adopted;

49. Calls on the Commission to give details of the practical measures taken to improve the operation of its administrative services and recalls its above-mentioned resolution of 21 April 1994, and in particular the need to carry out a regular evaluation of the establishment plan ('screening');

50. Calls on the Commission to undertake an assessment of services which highlights the political priorities on which human resources must be focused, in accordance with the resources available, and to take the measures needed to carry out the internal redeployment;

Delegations

51. Notes the efforts which the Commission is currently making to give delegations a more effective presence in third countries; confirms its determination to see a redeployment carried out before any increase in staff on the basis of 1995 levels; takes the view that the development of the Union's external relations calls for a restructuring of the delegations, with a stronger presence at regional level;

52. Reiterates the calls made during the 1996 budgetary procedure for a reassessment of requirements in respect of human resources via a regionalization of delegations; calls on the Commission to put forward a plan for the establishment of a genuine European foreign service prior to the adoption by the Commission of the 1997 PDB;

53. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the other institutions and bodies of the Union.