A4-0103/98

Resolution on the guidelines for the 1999 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 budget procedure, and the revision thereof ((OJ C 395, 31.12.1994, p. 1.)),

- having regard to the ceiling on EU own resources fixed at the Edinburgh Summit in December 1992 ((OJ C 331, 7.12.1993.)),

- having regard to the Court of Auditors' Annual Report concerning the financial year 1996, together with the Commission's replies ((OJ C 348, 18.11.1997.)),

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets and the opinions of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, the Committee on Research, Technological Development and Energy, the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, the Committee on Transport and Tourism and the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection (A4-0103/98),

A. whereas, nevertheless, the 1999 budget must not be considered as a budget 'closing a period' but as a 'bridging' budget, marking the departure point or beginning of the new perspective and a new interinstitutional agreement,

B. whereas the 1999 financial perspective foresees significant increases within each heading over the 1998 budget,

C. whereas the 1999 budget must be viewed in the context of the beginning of the third stage of Economic and Monetary Union and should be the first budget for implementation of the Amsterdam Treaty, notably concerning the second and third pillars, and the budget for negotiations on Agenda 2000, and consolidation of pre-accession activities; whereas the financing for all above-mentioned activities should be ensured by the Union's budget, with due respect for the unity of the budget, proper information of the Budgetary Authority and the financial perspective,

D. whereas the Member States should ensure that the collection of revenues contributing to the Union¨s budget is improved, so as to avoid wastage and enable the budgetary authority to meet needs better,

E. whereas the 1999 budget will be denominated in euros,

1. Is concerned to adopt a 1999 budget that takes account of its priorities, and considers that the 1999 budget will be 'the citizens' budget', through improved economic and social cohesion, and also 'the taxpayers' budget', through its rigorous implementation;

2. Considers that the 1999 budget should continue to be a budget for employment; shares the Commission's approach of continuing to finance measures initiated by Parliament in 1998 and supported by the European Council in November 1997;

3. Stresses the importance of strengthening instruments for monitoring implementation in order to optimize the use of the EU budget; considers it necessary that the Commission should be prepared to present a request for a transfer (under Article 6 of the Financial Regulation) when one of the two arms of the budgetary authority so requests on the basis of classification in order to transfer the appropriation from the operating budget item to an unallocated reserve if the conditions of implementation which were clearly established when the budget was adopted are not met;

4. Further identifies the following priorities for the 1999 budget:

- creation of employment through infrastructure investment, research and development, support for small and medium-sized enterprises and actions to combat youth unemployment and strengthening cohesion and the social dimension;

- education and training, and research and development, towards the concept of the 'Europe of knowledge';

- environment and climate change in keeping with the Union's commitments at the Kyoto Conference;

- more intensive monitoring of implementation and real effectiveness of all programmes through a more effective allocation of financial resources to Community programmes and activities in order to strengthen and sustain the process of economic convergence initiated by all the Member States;

- reinforcement of the European Union in the world through a coherent development policy capable of reaching internationally set targets;

5. Recalls that the budget of the Union should always fulfil the terms of Article F(3) of the Treaty on European Union concerning the sufficiency of means: 'The Union shall provide itself with the means necessary to attain its objectives and carry through its policies';

6. Considers that the financial perspective constitutes a political agreement between the two arms of the budgetary authority which must be respected;

7. Requires that the appropriate funding for specific programmes of the fifth EU framework programme for research, technological development and demonstration be entered in the 1999 budget as part of a general accord, and therefore insists that the two arms of the legislative authority come to an early agreement, in order to permit the timely and accurate budgetization of the programmes during the 1999 budget procedure;

8. Agrees that the increase of the 1999 budget in payments should be roughly in line with the average increase of Member States' budgets as compared with the 1998 budgets;

9. Considers that this objective can be more easily attained if a common position is established between the two arms of the budgetary authority on key elements such as:

- compliance with Article 21 of the Interinstitutional Agreement, which gives expression to the objective of the Edinburgh European Council for the Structural Funds;

- the formalization for future years of the 1998 'Tillich-Mulder' procedure allowing the Commission to present a late Letter of Amendment to the PDB for expenditure on agriculture and to use the same procedures on international fisheries agreements;

- the pursuit of the trialogue with the obligation to reach a result on the question of legal bases, a question which is situated in the context defined by:

- the need to provide a valid response to requirements which necessitate the launching of Community initiatives;

- financial programming by means of financial perspectives which break down Community programmes and measures into major expenditure categories;

- the legislative programme which is the subject of a concerted interinstitutional dialogue;

- continued budgetary rigour in Member States, which will involve making provision for reasonable margins under the individual headings,

- the application of the same rigorous approach for the different headings of the financial perspective, irrespective of the classification of expenditure;

- the scrutiny of the effectiveness of all expenditure entered in the budget, to assess real needs and the capacity for sound utilization, such as for the Phare, TACIS and MEDA programmes, and the possible incorporation of the EDF into the Community budget;

- the monitoring of the implementation of the budget, emphasizing the quality rather than the quantity of expenditure, and continuing the fight against fraud;

10. Requests that, in the run-up to the new millennium and the new financial perspective, an exhaustive political and financial evaluation be made of the actions and programmes coming to an end, so as to determine which should be continued, and even reinforced because of their multiplier effects and European Added Value, as policies of the Union, and which should no longer be thus considered;

11. Considers that the 1999 budget will be one of the bases for the financial perspective for the period after 1999; therefore believes that all possibilities to reduce the burden to taxpayers, while ensuring the financing of identified needs, should be examined, such as the creation of a preallocated reserve, where payments would only be necessary once a transfer had been effected; insists that transfer procedures as a whole be reviewed in order to render the process more transparent and more efficient; expects the Commission to present proposals for their improvement by 30 June 1998;

12. Insists that for reasons of transparency a clear distinction be made in the presentation and implementation of the 1999 budget between expenditure relating to the Union as currently constituted and that reserved for the future acceding countries as pre-accession or accession aid;

13. Welcomes the readiness of the Council and Commission to continue the rewarding experience of the 1998 procedure through the extension of the ad hoc procedure, agreed on 8 April 1997; also welcomes the openness of Council to dialogue with Parliament from the earliest stage in the procedure; expects that this openness to dialogue will help the budgetary authority to come to an early understanding on common priorities for the 1999 budget;

14. Notes that the budget needs in heading 1 have been overestimated by the Commission in the past; points out that the agricultural budget is now well below the guideline (ECU 3182 m) due to the premature nature of estimates underlying the preliminary draft budget; believes therefore that the PDB should not function as a ceiling; believes that the budgetary authority should only in justified circumstances deviate from the Commission's estimates in the Letter of Amendment; considers that the negotiation of the new financial perspective should provide an opportunity to review the guideline, including the examination of unresourced reserves; believes that if savings are to be made in heading 1, they should be made selectively after examination of particular needs and expenditure requirements; believes that a reserve allocated to subsection B1 should be created, to deal with unforeseen needs, which could be called upon in the event of increased demands in 1999; points out that the reserve will contribute to accurate estimates and tight budgeting, while increasing flexibility; recalls that the process of 'sustainable agriculture' needs to be developed further;

15. Confirms its commitment to absolute respect of the funding decided in Edinburgh for the Structural Funds, recalling its character as a 'spending target'; recalls that the implementation of the Structural Funds has direct implications for Member States who are required to provide co-financing; for this reason, considers that the possibility of an extension of the programming period should be examined;

16. Recognizes that the Luxembourg Employment Summit in November 1997 was a first step towards a real compromise on a Europe of Employment; insists that the employment initiative of the European Parliament come to fruition through a legal basis, adopted before Council's first reading, in order to guarantee the effective spending of the ECU 150 m voted in the 1998 budget and of the ECU 150 m to be proposed in the 1999 budget;

17. Notes that the Union's education, training and youth programmes have proved to have clear 'European Added Value', and that demands on these programmes have exceeded the budget foreseen; notes that preparing young people for mobility and for 'the Europe of Knowledge', linking education and training and research and development, remains a priority to the European Parliament, as does the promotion of educational exchanges, both within and outside the EU; will ensure adequate budgetary appropriations for innovative activities;

18. Asks the Commission also to present to it, as a matter of urgency, a plan for the integration of 'mainstreaming' into EU policies;

19. Urges the satellite agencies to respect the principles of prior information, transparency and accountability adopted under in the 1998 budgetary procedure; invites the Commission to ensure regular monitoring of the agencies' budgets in order to be able to inform the budgetary authority beforehand of all major changes in their budgets throughout the different phases of the budgetary year;

20. Welcomes the inclusion of sustainable development in the Amsterdam Treaty; takes note that the Luxembourg European Council has asked the Commission to present to the European Council meeting in Cardiff a strategy integrating environmental issues into all Community policies, giving greater urgency in 1999 to Community activities to promote renewable energies and energy efficiency in keeping with the Kyoto summit conclusions on the reduction of greenhouse gases, and the terms of its own resolution of 19 February 1998 on environmental policy and climate change following the Kyoto Summit ((Minutes of that sitting, Part II, Item 6.)); expects that these initiatives will give a major impulse to the 'greening of the budget';

21. Calls for the financing of the creation of an area of freedom, security and justice to be taken into account in the general budget and in particular for the Schengen Information System (SIS) and the future Eurodac system to form part of the operating section of the budget;

22. Recalls that the Luxembourg European Council stressed that food safety is of major importance in order to re-establish citizens' confidence after the BSE crisis; therefore calls on the Commission to start the groundwork to prepare for the new areas of European public health policy and consumer protection, the scope of which will be expanded considerably after the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam;

23. Asks the Commission:

- to put into practical form the financial information on the European development funds submitted each year together with the draft budget;

- to draw up a scheme involving Parliament more closely in the annual estimates it draws up of EDF expenditure;

24. Notes the implementing difficulties in relation to funding for assistance to the major external programmes; considers that this is due in part to cumbersome executive procedures, an inappropriate legislative framework and inadequate management by the Commission; notes also the unrealistic financial targets set by European Institutions without taking into account the absorption capacity of recipient countries; calls for a more effective CFSP policy with sustained emphasis on the promotion of democracy and human rights, and a more comprehensive organization of the Union's external policy administration, delegations and instruments, especially with regard to human rights, humanitarian aid and reconstruction;

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

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