REQUEST FOR THE NON-AUTOMATIC CARRYOVER OF NON-DIFFERENTIATED APPROPRIATIONS FROM 2001 TO 2002

(presented by the Commission)

THE COMMISSION,

Having regard to Article 7(1) and (3) of the Financial Regulation of 21 December 1977 applicable to the general budget of the European Communities, [1] as last amended by Council Regulation No 762/01, [2] [3]

[1] OJ L 356, 31.12.1977, p. 1.

[2] OJ L 111, 20.04.2001, p. 1

[3] Text overleaf

Requests that the Council and Parliament authorise the carryover to 2002 of the following appropriations from Parts A and B of Section III - Commission - for the reasons set out below.

Done at Brussels, 15.2.2002

For the Commission

Michaele Schreyer

Member of the Commission

Excerpt from the Financial Regulation

Article 7

1. In the case of budget headings where there is no distinction between commitment appropriations and payment appropriations, appropriations still uncommitted at the end of the financial year for which they were entered shall, as a rule, lapse.

Appropriations relating to remunerations and allowances of members and staff of the institutions and provisional appropriations may not be carried over.

However:

a) a decision may be taken to carry over, to the next financial year only, appropriations still uncommitted at the close of the financial year, where the appropriations made to the headings in question in the budget of the next financial year are not sufficient to cover requirements, and those committed after 15 December for purchases of stores or equipment, performance of work or provision of supplies;

3. In the case of appropriations for which a decision to carry over may be taken in accordance with point 1 (a), the Commission shall forward to the budgetary authority, not later than 15 February, the duly substantiated requests to carry over appropriations made by the European Parliament, the Council, the Court of Justice, the Court of Auditors, the Economic and Social, the Committee of the Regions, the Ombudsman and the Commission itself.

The carryover of such appropriations can be proposed only for exceptional reasons in order to cope with compelling needs which cannot be met by appropriations from the next financial year. In principle, such carryovers are intended to cover needs normally coming under the previous financial year but which, due to delays for which the authorising officer was not responsible, could not be used in due time.

The Council shall consult the European Parliament and shall act by a qualified majority on the requests to carry over expenditure necessarily arising from the Treaties or from acts adopted pursuant thereto.

The European Parliament shall consult the Council and shall act on the requests to carry over expenditure other than that necessarily arising from the Treaties or from acts adopted pursuant thereto.

In the absence of a decision by the budgetary authority within a period of six weeks, the requests for carryovers shall be deemed to be approved.

REQUEST FOR CARRYOVERS FROM 2001 TO 2002 NON-AUTOMATIC CARRYOVERS - NON-DIFFERENTIATED APPROPRIATIONS

CARRYOVER OF NON-DIFFERENTIATED APPROPRIATIONS

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CARRYOVER OF NON-DIFFERENTIATED APPROPRIATIONS

Grounds

1. A-0342 Office for Official Publications

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As the Office's Management Committee has confirmed that it wishes to keep up a high level of performance for the equipment in its reproduction workshop used by all the institutions, a tender was published on 13 September 2001 for the acquisition of a complete new gluing line to replace equipment acquired in 1977. Although the procedure ended before 15 December, the proposal for the commitment of EUR664 351 could not be registered by that date because of a problem of communication between departments.

The Commission, in accordance with Article 7(1)(a), would therefore request the carryover of EUR665 000 in Article A-342 to 2002 so that this equipment can be replaced. The Office's budget for 2002 cannot cover this expenditure as it has to cater for the adjustment to remunerations decided by the Council in December 2001 (3.7%), which is 1% more than assumed when the 2002 appropriations were calculated, and as the relative level of this expenditure is very high (1.1% of the total appropriation for Article A-342).

2. B1-4050 Agri-environment (new system)

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Under Article 7(3) of the Financial Regulation, appropriations from budget lines where there is no distinction between commitment appropriations and payment appropriations may be carried over for exceptional reasons to cope with compelling needs which cannot be met by appropriations from the next financial year.

The level of implementation of rural development programmes in 2001 (Title B1-4) came to EUR4 363.2 million, EUR130 million less than the budget allocation of EUR4 495 million.

There are two reasons for this under-utilisation:

* 1) Some programmes were approved late. Of the 89 programmes, only 52 were adopted in 2000 and 37 in 2001. As a result, it was not possible in 2001 to reach the cruising speed required to use up all the appropriations available, especially for the measures which are most difficult to implement.

* 2) The multiannual programming of measures subject to the EAGGF Guarantee Section's strict rules of implementation raises real difficulties of implementation.

The appropriations available in the 2002 budget come to EUR4 595 million, the ceiling set at Berlin. According to the forecasts for 2002 which the Member States sent in on 30 September 2001, the level of expenditure could reach EUR4 790 million, EUR195 million higher than in the budget. Many of the lines expected to exceed their 2002 allocation were under-utilised in 2001. It therefore appears that the Member States could, if their forecasts are correct, make up the backlog which accumulated in 2001 for the reasons mentioned above.

It may be seen from the arguments set out above that the conditions laid down in the Financial Regulation for carrying over appropriations have been met for the appropriations in item B1-4050 which were not used in 2001 and it is therefore proposed that EUR82 million be carried over to the same item for 2002.

3. B1-4070 Forestry (new system, Article 31)

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(See grounds for Item B1-4050)

It may be seen from the arguments set out above that the conditions laid down in the Financial Regulation for carrying over appropriations have been met for the appropriations in item B1-4070 which were not used in 2001 and it is therefore proposed that EUR17 million be carried over to the same item for 2002.