WRITTEN QUESTION E-2432/98

by Leonie van Bladel (UPE) and James Janssen van Raay (UPE) to the Council

(30 July 1998)

Subject: Suspension of payments from budget items devoted to organizations caring for the elderly

1. Is the Council of Ministers aware that the Commission decision of 10 July 1998 to suspend payments from some 40 budget items devoted to European cooperation in areas including care for the elderly constitutes a serious handicap for European NGOs which have requested subsidies?

2. Does the Council share my view that this suspension runs counter to the rules of sound financial management?

3. What steps has the Council taken, as we approach 1999, the UN Year of the Elderly, to lift that suspension?

4. Does the Council realize that the decision to suspend payments is incompatible with the objective of encouraging senior citizens to involve themselves in EU affairs and that it will, inter alia, sharply reduce the degree of interest of European senior citizens in the forthcoming European elections in June 1999?

5. Is the Council aware that the suspension of payments gives a totally false signal to the social services organizations which work to improve the welfare of the elderly in Europe?

6. What measures is the Council prepared to take in order to lift the suspension and to create for the Commission, at the very earliest opportunity, the legal basis required for the appropriations set aside for this purpose still to be made available, thereby ensuring the continuity of projects and networks?

Reply

(7/8 December 1998)

The Judgment delivered by the Court of Justice of the European Communities on 12 May 1998 in Case C-106/96 (United Kingdom v. Commission) gives a reminder of the Court's earlier case-law which makes it clear that, "in the system of the Treaty, any implementation of expenditure by the Commission in principle presupposes, in addition to the entry of the relevant appropriation in the budget, an act of secondary legislation (commonly called the "basic act") from which the expenditure derives" (Point 22 of the grounds of the Judgment, ECR 1998-5, p. I - 2753).

On 10 June 1998, the Commission, acting within the framework of its responsibilities under Article 205 of the Treaty, suspended the implementation of a number of the Union's 1998 budget headings, which it felt should be examined in the light of this principle. Following this examination, it decided to press ahead with the implementation of most of the headings.

In this context, however, the implementation of heading B3-4116"Cooperation with non-governmental organisations and associations to combat social exclusion", to which the Honourable Members' question refers, has not been resumed. This is because the Commission found that there was no basic act, which it accepted was necessary, in this case.

The Council, aware of the importance of Community policies for Union citizens, considered at its meeting on 17 July 1998 that the Commission could, in compliance with Community law as re-affirmed by the Court, continue without delay the implementation for 1998 of measures recognised as being politically sensitive, such as measures to combat violence against children, adolescents and women, action relating to illegal and harmful content on the Internet, support for and monitoring of electoral processes, and action in the field of human rights and democracy.

At that meeting the Council also agreed, with European Parliament and Commission representatives, on an interinstitutional agreement signed by the representatives of the three institutions on 13 October 1998 on legal bases and implementation of the budget under which, in the light of the abovementioned Court of Justice judgment of 12 May 1998, arrangements for cooperation between the three institutions would be made by common agreement in order to improve the legislative procedure and the budget procedure, so that the Commission would be fully able to implement Community expenditure.

The Council also undertook, with the Parliament, in the case of budget headings for which a basic act had been proposed but not yet adopted, to endeavour to speed up the legislative procedures under way and complete them as soon as possible. That commitment resulted in the adoption on 17 July 1998 of Council Regulation (EC) 1658/98 on co-financing operations with European non-governmental development organisations (NGOs) in fields of interest to developing countries(1).

(1) OJ L 213, 30.7.1998, p. 1.