ARCHIVES HISTORIQUES 
DE LA COMMISSION 
 
 
 
COLLECTION RELIEE DES 
DOCUMENTS "COM" 
 
 
 
 
COM (83) 271 
 
 
 
Vol. 1983/0 113 
 
Disclaimer  
Conformém ent au règlement (CEE, Euratom) n° 354/83 du Conseil du 1er février 1983 
concernant l'ouverture au public des archives historiques de la Communauté économique 
européenne et de la Communauté européenne de l'énergie atomique (JO L 43 du 15.2.1983, 
p. 1), tel que modifié par le règlement (CE, Euratom) n° 1700/2003 du 22 septembre 2003 
(JO L 243 du 27.9.2003, p. 1), ce dossier est ouvert au public. Le cas échéant, les documents 
classifiés présents dans ce dossier ont été déclassifiés conformément à l'article 5 dudit 
règlem ent. 
In accordance with Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 354/83 of 1 February 1983 
concerning the opening to the public of the historical archives of the European Economic 
Community and the European Atomic Energy Communit y (OJ L 43, 15.2.1983, p. 1), as 
amended by Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1700/2003 of 22 September 2003 (OJ L 243, 
27.9.2003, p. 1), this file is open to the public. Where necessary, classified documents in this 
file have been declassified in conformity with Article 5 of the aforementioned regulation. 
In Übereinstimmung mit der Verordnung (EWG, Euratom) Nr. 354/83 des Rates vom  1. 
Februar 1983 über die Freigabe der historischen Archive der Europäischen 
Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft und der Europäischen Atomgem einschaft (ABI. L 43 vom  15.2.1983, 
S. 1), geändert durch die Verordnung (EG, Euratom) Nr. 1700/2003 vom 22. Septem ber 2003 
(ABI. L 243 vom 27.9.2003, S. 1), ist diese Datei der Öffentlichkeit zugänglich. Soweit 
erforderlich, wurden die Verschlusssachen in dieser Datei in Übereinstimmung mit Artikel 5 
der genannten Verordnung freigegeben. 
COMMISSION  OF THE  EUROPEAN  COMMUNITIES 
COM (83)  271  FINAL 
BRUSSELS  4 MAY  1983 
GENERAL BUDGET  FOR 1983 
SECTION III - COMMISSION  - PART A 
TRANSFER OF APPROPRIATIONS No  11/83 
(non-compulsory expenditure) 
Ecu 
FROM CHAPTER  100 - PROVISIONAL APPROPRIATIONS 4 000 000 
TO CHAPTER  25 - EXPENDITURE ON  FORMAL AND 
OTHER MEETINGS 
Article 250 - Meetings  in general  2 000 000 
Article 251 - Commitee  meetings  2 000 000 
4 000 000 4 000 000 
The Financial Controller  approved  this proposal  on 25 April 1983 in 
accordance with  Article  21(4) of the  Financial  Regulation  and 
certified  that the appropriations  are available. 
COM(83)  271  FINAL 

GROUNDS 
Background 
Budget headings  250 and 251 of Section III  (Commission),  Part A 
(Administrative  appropriations), cover the  travel,  subsistence 
and incidental  expenses  of government  and other experts attending 
study groups  and working  parties or  committees  set up by Treaty 
or Regulation (Council or  Commission).  In the preliminary  draft 
budget for 1983 the Commission  requested  6.8 million  ECU for 
Article  250 and 6.0 million  ECU for  Article  251. These  appropria­
tions, which took into account  the trand of costs, and by the 
sharp (21%) rise in fares,  were reduced  by the Council to  6.47 
million  ECU and  5.30 million  ECU respectively. 
During the  procedure  adopting the  1983 budget,  Parliament decided 
to freeze  2 000 000  ECU for  each of these  Articles  in Chapter  -00 
(Provisional  appropriations). This represents  30.9% of the  + ,al 
allocation  for Article  250 (6 470 000  ECU) and  37.7% for Article 
251 (5 300 000  ECU). 
These two percentages  are important since they permit a better 
assessment  of the  direct  impact  of this measure  on the smooth 
functioning  of the  Commission's  activities  as regards  meetings  of 
experts . 
When Parliament blocked these appropriations, a  statement  was 
written  into the  remarks  side of the  budget  for each of the two 
Articles  indicating  that "the appropriation of  2 000 000  ECU, 
entered in  Chapter  100, will be unblocked  in the  light of the 
results  of an enquiry  which  will be conducted  on behalf of the 
European  Parliament by the  Committee  on Budgetary  Control with 
the assistance of the Court of Auditors and the  Commission". 
Proposal to  unblock  the appropriations 
The Commission  devised a kind of  countdown  to determine  when 
it must present its proposal to  unblock  the appropriations so 
that work in progress in the various  committees  and other  groups 
is not seriously obstructed. 
To assess  this date it should be  borne in mind that at  least 
four weeks are needed  for committing  appropriations, reserving 
meeting rooms,  booking  interpreters and  convening  experts, 
before the  meeting  can be held. 

- 2 -
Since six  weeks are needed  to unblock  appropriations and 
a further four  weeks to convene  experts, the proposal for a 
transfer  must be presented to the  budgetary  authority now 
if the appropriations are to be available for the  last four 
months of the year, given that in  aggregate  the appropriations 
to be unblocked  represent  more than a third of the  annual 
allocation. 
2. The Commission  would not, of course,  have started the  procedure 
to unblock  the appropriations at  this stage if they had not 
been strictly  necessary to  complete  the activities  undertaken 
as part of its  priority  policies.  The Commissie  i has taken a 
number of measures  which have helped to  save budgetary  expendi­
ture without obstructing the  activi  ties of the  committees  and 
other- meetings  of experts . 
These measures  were already  annoi led in  1982 : 
- the number  of experts receiving  travel expenses  and subsistence 
allowances  from the Commission  was limited  to two per country  ; 
- Member States were asked to lighten up cooperation  between  their 
departments  so as to coordinate  activities  in the  committees  and 
other groups  ; 
- new rules  were laid down for calculating  experts ' travel 
expenses  and subsistence  allowances  ; 
- the Commission  undertook  to make a systematic  attempt  to group 
together those  meetings  requiring experts of the  same category 
so that several  meetings  could be held in the course of one 
visit. 
All these measures  were intended to  reduce  the operating costs of 
committees  and other  groups  as far as possible without  making 
them any less useful or  effective. 
Although  Parliament's  Committee  on Budgetary  Control states that 
it needs two months  to examine  the Commission's  answers  to its 
questionnaire, it is not possible to wait for  this period to 
elapse before  starting  the transfer  procedure. 
The situation  of Articles  250 and 251 on 15 April 1983 was as 
follows  : 
(million  ECU) Article  250 Article  251 
Appropriations available on  1.1.1983  4.470  3.300 
Appropriations  committed  on 15.4.1983  2.552  2.199 
Appropriations available on  15.4.1983  1.918 1.101 
For the record,  commitments  made from Articles  250 and 251 in 
1982 totalled  5.36 million  ECU and  5.39 million  ECU respectively. 

- 3 -
Conclusions 
The costs for the  Community  budget  and the effectiveness of the 
committees  have been shown in the detailed analysis and in the 
Commission's  answer  to the Boserup  questionnaire, sent to 
Parliament's  Committee  on Budgetary  Control on  20 April 1983. 
If the appropriations to  cover the cost of  meetings  of committees 
and other  groups  are not  unblocked  and transferred  from Chapter 
100 to the  budget  headings  concerned,  viz : Articles  250 and 251, 
activities  in progress  are bound to be thoroughly  disrupted  with 
serious consequences  for the  implementation  of the Community 
policies  involved. 
Work is generally  planned  a year at.a time ; any interruption in 
the series of  meetings  would necessitate a  complete  revision 
of the timetable and frustrate the  Community's  objectives. 
The Community  is aware of the need to keep administrative  expen­
diture on committees  and other  groups  within the  limits  dictated 
by the current  economic  constraints  ; this applies to other 
sectors as well. But it is also  aware of the  important  role 
played by  these committees  and meetings  of experts in developing 
Community  policies,  and has therefore considered it appropriate 
to present  this transfer of appropriations for  your approval at 
this time.