No C 175/6 Official Journal of the European Communities 4. 7. 88 
Opinion on the proposal for a Council Decision on the System of the Communities' own 
resources (.../EEC, EURATOM, ECSC) 
(88/C 175/02) 
On 25 March 1988 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, 
under Article 198 of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, on the 
abovementioned proposal. 
The Section for Economic, Financial and Monetary Questions, which was responsible for 
preparing the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its Opinion on 12 April 1988. The 
rapporteur was Mr Pardon. 
At its 255th plenary session (meeting of 27 April 1988), the Economic and Social Committee 
adopted the following Opinion unanimously. 
1. The Economic and Social Committee recently 
drew up an Opinion on the financing of the Com­
munity, with reference to the Commission's Communi­
cation 'Making a Success of the Single Act' and its 
report on the financing of the Community Budget. 
If forcefully expressed the view that 'the Community 
urgently needs more resources. Otherwise, it will be a 
chimera without the budgetary security which is crucial 
to its development' (point 2.5). 
2. At its meeting of 27 January 1988, the Committee 
adopted an Opinion on the draft Own resources 
Decision. 
In this Opinion the Committee pointed out that it was 
'urgent for the Community to have the means needed 
for its policies. ... Financing should therefore be suf­
ficient, but it should also be as equitable as possible, 
taking account of each Member State's ability to pay' 
(point 2.1). 
It considered that the 'proposed system has been devised 
with a view to fairness and solidarity, the aim being 
to accommodate the less favoured Member States by 
reducing their contributions and enabling them to ben­
efit from common policies through the structural funds' 
(point 2.5). 
3. Accordingly the Committee expressed regret at 
the failure of the Copenhagen Summit which was meant 
to discuss these measures, and expressed satisfaction 
at the compromise solution reached by the European 
Council held in Brussels on 11, 12 and 13 February 
1988. The aim of the present draft Decision is to 
implement that agreement. 
4. The total amount of own resources assigned to 
the Communities may not exceed 1,20% of the total 
gross national product (GNP) of the Community, in 
payment appropriations [Art. 3(1)]; the commitment appropriations entered in the general budget of the 
Communities may not exceed 1,30% of the total GNP 
of the Community [Art. 3(2)]. 
4.1. This amount is less than the initial figure of 
1,40% of GNP which the Committee approved in prin­
ciple, although remarking that 'the figure in question 
is not binding' (Opinion of 19 November 1987, point 
3.6). 
4.2. Furthermore, two factors should be borne in 
mind: 
— the budgetary compensation paid to the United 
Kingdom should have no effect on the amount of 
own resources available for Community policies; 
this represents about 0,03 % of GNP; 
— the budget of the European Development Fund for 
African, Caribbean and Pacific States (ACP) 
remains outside the general budget of the Communi­
ties; this represents about 0,08 % of GNP. 
4.3. While the method used may give rise to reser­
vations of a technical nature, it nevertheless does, more 
or less, provide the Commission with the amounts 
which the latter regarded as essential for wiping out 
the debt of the past and implementing common policies 
[see doc. COM(87) 100 and 101 final]. 
5. The own resources are somewhat changed when 
compared with the original proposals [doc. COM(87) 
100, 101 and 102 final]. 
5.1. No change is made in the own resource made 
up of the levies, premiums, additional or compensatory 
amounts and other duties established within the frame­
work of the common agricultural policy [see Art. 2 
(l)a) of doc. COM(88) 137 final]. 
5.2. No change is made in the own resource consti­
tuted by the CCT duties, to which must be added 
4. 7. 88 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 175/7 
customs duties on products coming under the ECSC 
Treaty Art. 2 (l)b) of doc. COM(88) 137 final, this is 
in line with the initial proposals approved by the ESC 
in its Opinions of 19 November 1987 and 27 January 
1988. 
5.3. The Member States will continue to retain, by 
way of collection costs, 10% of the abovementioned 
amounts; this is contrary to the original proposals 
[Art. 2 (3)]. 
5.4. The maximum rate to be applied to each Mem­
ber State's uniform base for Value Added Tax (VAT) 
is fixed at 1,4% (instead of 1% in the original pro­
posals), but, to take into account Member States' ability 
to pay, which was a concern voiced by the ESC in its 
previous Opinions, this assessment base will be limited 
to 55 % of GNP for each Member State; this reduces 
accordingly the contribution of those whose percentage 
of GNP accounted for by the VAT base exceeds this 
limit. 
5.5. The difference between the maximum amount 
of own resources, corresponding to 1,2% of the total 
of the Member States' GNP for the year at market 
prices, and the other own resources listed above will 
be established by the application of a rate—to be deter­
mined—to the sum of all the Member States' GNP [Art. 
2 (l)(d)]; this rate applies to the GNP of each Member 
State [Art. 2 (4)]. 
In this respect we welcome the fact that the Commission 
announces in the preamble that it will introduce a 
Directive on the application of the rules governing the 
establishment of GNP. 
Done at Brussels, 27 April 1988. 6. The correction of budgetary imbalances will be 
adjusted to take into account the capping of the VAT 
base and the introduction of the additional resource 
based on GNP. 
The Committee approves the proposal to submit, by 
the end of 1991, a report including a re-examination of 
the correction of budgetary imbalances granted to the 
United Kingdom. 
7. The proposed Decision represents a compromise 
insofar as: 
— the Community's own resources are apparently less 
than originally envisaged, even though the end result 
may in practice be almost the same, 
— the VAT-based own resource is set at 1,4% instead 
of 1%, although this assessment base is limited to 
55 % of the GNP of each Member State to take into 
account their ability to pay. 
8. The Committee can only regret the changes made 
to the original drafts. It would at the very least have 
been desirable for the Commission to give reasons for 
the new choice of bases for the rates and of distribution 
of resources among the various components, and for it 
to explain more fully the effects of this choice. 
9. Nevertheless, this compromise, insofar as it pre­
vents a standstill in Community policy and enables the 
internal market to be completed, with all that this 
implies, must be approved in the Community's current 
situation. The momentum which it provides should 
enable the legitimate aspirations of all Community citi­
zens to be fulfilled in due course. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Alfons MARGOT