A4-0409/97

Resolution on the draft ECSC operating budget for 1998 (SEC(97)0933 - C4-0270/97)

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the draft ECSC operating budget for 1998 established by the Commission (SEC(97)0933 - C4-0270/97),

- having regard to the Council's decisions of 27 November 1997 concerning the draft general budget for 1998 as amended and modified by Parliament at first reading (C4-0600/97),

- having regard to the memorandum of the ECSC Consultative Committee of 28 June 1995 on the various matters relating to the expiry of the ECSC Treaty in 2002 (ECSC 5262/4/95),

- having regard to its resolution of 15 November 1996 on the incorporation of the ECSC into the budget of the European Union (( OJ C 362, 2.12.1996, p. 327.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 23 October 1997 on the draft amending ECSC operating budget for 1997 (( Minutes of that sitting, Part II, Item 1(c).)),

- whereas the draft ECSC operating budget for 1998 and the draft amending ECSC operating budget for 1997 were drawn up in the context of the expiry of the ECSC Treaty on 23 July 2002,

- having regard to the resolution of the Amsterdam European Council on growth and employment inviting the Commission to lay down the arrangements for the phasing-out of the ECSC as regards the management of current operations and the patrimony and the allocation of revenue from the management of ECSC assets,

- having regard to the Commission's communication to the Council on the expiry of the ECSC Treaty: financial activities (COM(97)0506),

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets and the opinions of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Industrial Policy and the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (A4-0409/97),

A. whereas, notwithstanding the expiry of the ECSC Treaty, the various activities carried out pursuant to that Treaty will not automatically cease to be necessary, whereas, therefore, the phasing-in of ECSC activities in the general budget must continue to be the subject of full consideration and practical proposals in parallel to the phasing-out,

B. whereas the coal and steel industries remain dependent on cyclical market trends, trends which are themselves linked largely to European and world economic fluctuations; whereas, therefore, they may once again be faced with difficult economic situations,

C. whereas the financial and budgetary provisions of the ECSC Treaty have helped to cushion the traumatic social impact of the radical restructuring which has taken place in these two industries,

D. whereas research, the key to competitiveness in terms of manufacturing, innovation and product quality standards, has an indispensable role to play in a dynamic policy to improve the employment situation,

E. whereas steel demand and prices have been increasing gradually since the end of the stock-reduction period, and whereas this gradual improvement in steel market conditions, linked to the overall economic improvement in the Community in 1997, points to an increase in steel production from 148 million tonnes in 1996 to 156 million tonnes in 1997,

F. whereas, however, the number of jobs will continue to fall from 304 500 in 1996 to 287 600 in 1997, i.e. a loss of 16 900 jobs,

G. whereas the continuing restructuring programmes in the coal sector in the Member States will give rise to the loss of an estimated 8700 jobs,

1. Notes that, for the first time, the Commission has submitted a draft operating budget in the context of the expiry of the Treaty in 2002, which has prompted it to set this procedure in the context of the financial perspective for the period 1997-2002;

2. Notes that, in that context, in accordance with its 1994 decision (( OJ C 175, 28.6.1994, p. 5.)), the Commission is proposing to end the conversion policy in 1998; notes also that, since convergence loans cannot continue beyond 23 July 2002 and their term is five years, no further loans can be granted after 23 July 1997;

3. Notes that the halting of commitments in respect of global conversion loans entails an initial tranche of cancellations totalling ECU 173 m in 1997, i.e. an increase of ECU 120 m by comparison with the estimates in the draft budget, and that the Commission has therefore presented a draft amending budget for 1997 totalling ECU 424.4 m instead of ECU 265.5 m and has allocated an additional amount of ECU 139.9 million to the chapter dealing with provisions for the financing of future budgets;

4. Points out that Parliament delivered a favourable opinion on that proposal in its resolution referred to in the fifth citation above;

5. Notes that, as far as the draft budget for 1998 is concerned, the needs estimated by the Commission total ECU 179 m, as against ECU 206 m in 1997 (SAB), and that ECU 35 m of the provisions built up by the two previous budgets are to be used to offset the absence of the contribution from the levy, as proposed by the Commission;

6. Takes the view that the Commission must extend into 1998 the programmes which it has already embarked upon, in particular the redeployment aid schemes, given that its own estimates point to a combined loss in the coal and steel sectors of over 25 000 jobs per year;

7. Regards the other ECSC aid schemes, particularly the social measures for coal, as all the more necessary as no further conversion loans can be granted after 23 July 1997;

8. Takes the view, further, that for this reason the ECSC budget must offset the loss of conversion aid by means of other aid schemes, in particular those provided for by Articles 2, 56 and 95 of the ECSC Treaty, given that the Commission's economic forecasts demonstrate the need for support in this area;

9. Calls on the Commission to gear ECSC research support to the share of the yield from the levy accounted for by each sector;

10. Approves, therefore, the table annexed to this resolution:

(a) as regards the operating budget for 1998, proposes that the ECSC levy be definitively abolished, as provided for in the Commission draft, since there is no longer a financial requirement, given the objective to be realized and the expiry of the ECSC Treaty, as well as the reserves to be constituted by then;

(b) as regards the level of reserves and provisions entered in the ECSC balance sheet, proposes that:

- the guidelines adopted by Parliament in its resolution of 15 November 1996 referred to above should be incorporated in the balance sheet;

- the decisions taken in connection with the 1998 budget should be linked to those which will be taken in respect of the following budgetary years, on the basis of a financial perspective for the period 1998-2002;

- in 1998 part of the provisions should be used to make a payment to the EIB with a view to establishing a special fund to support job-creating SMUs in industrial research sectors linked to coal and steel and in sectoral or regional areas connected with these industries;

11. Takes the view that these proposals are consistent with:

- the resolution of the Amsterdam European Council on growth and employment, which referred to the ECSC reserves as a financial instrument which might be used to help in the fight against unemployment in Europe, and paragraph 10 of which reads as follows: 'The Commission is invited to make the appropriate proposals in order to ensure that, upon expiry of the ECSC Treaty in 2002, the revenues of outstanding reserves can be used for a research fund for sectors related to the coal and steel industry', and invites the Commission to submit proposals stating whether, and how, this decision could be implemented as of 1998;

- the determination of the Community authorities to seek significant resources for employment;

- the available funding constituted by the proceeds from the levy and the provisions which may be used to achieve one of the Community's objectives on the basis of Articles 2, 56 and 95 of the ECSC Treaty;

12. Recalls that, in a statement to Parliament in 1973, the Commission undertook to accept the binding nature of opinions delivered by Parliament on the ECSC operating budget;

13. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council and the ECSC Consultative Committee.

ANNEX

DRAFT ECSC OPERATING BUDGET FOR 1998 (ECU million)

>TABLE>

(1) Including projects with an impact on technical measures to combat harmful effects at the workplace and around steel plants (indicative amount of ECU 4 million), industrial hygiene and mine safety (indicative amount of ECU 3 million).

* Should it prove impossible to adopt a legal basis, these appropriations could be transferred to the provisions, under the financial perspective for the period 1998-2002.