Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 1999 to use the flexibility instrument for the financing of the reconstruction of Kosovo
Date: 1999-12-16
Institutions: Council of the European Union, European Parliament
Subjects: EU aid, EU financial instrument, EU financing, Kosovo, economic reconstruction

14.2.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 41/1

I

(Information)

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
COUNCIL

DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

of 16 December 1999

to use the flexibility instrument for the financing of the reconstruction of Kosovo

(2000/C 41/01)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT,

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

preliminary draft budget for the financial year 2001 so as
to enable the institutions to reach agreement before the
Council’s vote on the draft budget for 2001.

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Com-
munity,

Having regard to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 6 May
1999 between the European Parliament, the Council and the
Commission, on budgetary discipline and improvement of
the budgetary procedure (1), and in particular paragraph 24
thereof,

Having regard to the proposal for mobilisation of the flexibility
instrument submitted by the Commission on 10 November
1999,

(2)

(3)

Whereas:

(1) At the conciliation meeting held on 25 November 1999
in the presence of Commission representatives,
the
European Parliament and the Council were obliged to
note that the Commission was not yet in a position to
submit a year-by-year evaluation of the needs for Kosovo
and the needs of the Balkans in general beyond the year
2000. They again called on the Commission to submit a
precise multiannual evaluation of these needs for the
whole of the period concerned, together with the necess-
ary proposals for funding,
if necessary, a
proposal for revision of the financial perspective. These
proposals would be made before submission of the

including,

(1) OJ C 172, 18.6.1999, p. 1.

the European Parliament and the
In the meantime,
Council set the amount of resources needing to be made
available for the reconstruction of Kosovo at a maximum
of EUR 360 million in commitment appropriations for
the financial year 2000.

In order to help cover this need,
the Commission
considered that it would be possible to carry over from
the 1999 budget commitment appropriations of EUR
30 million from Obnova and EUR 30 million from
humanitarian aid. The European Parliament and the
Council therefore agreed to enter EUR 300 million in
commitment appropriations in the general budget of the
European Communities for the financial year 2000 for
the reconstruction of Kosovo, of which EUR 40 million
would be made available through redeployment (transfers
of appropriations) under heading 4.

(4)

In order to finance this additional need, which arose after
the submission of the preliminary draft budget for the
financial year 2000,
the Commission first examined
all possibilities for reallocating appropriations under
heading 4 of the financial perspective, in accordance with
paragraph 24,
fourth subparagraph, of the Interinsti-
tutional Agreement of 6 May 1999.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

14.2.2000

(5) The Commission indicated that EUR 60 million proposed
for Obnova in the preliminary draft budget for 2000 and
EUR 20 million requested for humanitarian aid could be
used for Kosovo. The European Parliament and the
Council agreed to this solution and noted that as a
result EUR 220 million in commitment appropriations
remained to be funded.

laid down in Article 272(9), fifth subparagraph, of the
Treaty establishing the European Community, to use the
flexibility instrument to finance the balance of the needs
created by the reconstruction of Kosovo which cannot be
met by carrying over appropriations from the 1999
budget or by redeployment of appropriations entered in
the draft budget for the financial year 2000.

(6)

In addition, the Commission identified possible redeploy-
ment under heading 4 of
the financial perspective,
amounting to EUR 180 million in commitment appropri-
ations. With the aim in particular of easing the burden on
the poorer countries and enabling the European Union
to finance its traditional priorities, the European Parlia-
ment and the Council have agreed to restrict
these
deployments under heading 4 of the financial perspective
to EUR 150 million in commitment appropriations, as
opposed to Parliament’s first reading.

(7) After examining all possibilities for reallocating appropri-
ations under heading 4 of the financial perspective, the
Commission proposed,
the flexibility
instrument should be used for a sum of EUR 60 million.

inter alia,

that

(8) The European Parliament and the Council noted that the
balance of the needs could not be financed by means of
redeployment. Nevertheless,
in the
absence of a precise evaluation of the needs for each year
of the period concerned, at this stage the problem arose
only for the financial year 2000 and concerned a limited
amount.

they noted that,

HEREBY DECIDE THAT:

Article 1

Use will be made by common agreement of the flexibility
instrument provided for in paragraph 24 of the Interinsti-
tutional Agreement of 6 May 1999 on budgetary discipline
and improvement of the budgetary procedure for a sum of
EUR 200 million.

Article 2

the commitment
This sum is intended to cover part of
appropriations entered against budget line B7-5 4 6 ‘Aid for
the reconstruction of Kosovo’ of the general budget of the
European Communities for the financial year 2000.

Article 3

This decision shall be published in the Official Journal of the
European Communities at the same time as the budget for the
financial year 2000.

Done at Brussels, 16 December 1999.

(9) The European Parliament and the Council, noting that
the conditions laid down in paragraph 24 of the Interin-
stitutional Agreement had been met, therefore decided by
common agreement, in accordance with the voting rules

For the European Parliament

For the Council

The President

The President

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 41/3

Declarations

1. The Commission confirms that by April 2000 it will propose an aid programme for the western
Balkans, including Kosovo for the period 2000 to 2006. The amount concerned will require it to
submit a proposal for revision of the financial perspective, together with a programming plan for
heading 4.

2. The European Parliament and the Council agree that an aid programme for the western Balkans must
be established. They take note of the fact that, if a sum requiring a financial effort significantly greater
than that already programmed were to be agreed, this would entail exceeding the current ceilings for
heading 4 of the financial perspective.

3. The European Parliament undertakes to leave a margin of EUR 20 million under the ceilings for
heading 4 and, if necessary, by means of redeployment, to enter an amount of EUR 40 million for the
reconstruction of Kosovo in particular, before the Council’s first reading of the draft budget for 2001,
this to be done by means of transfers of appropriations. The European Parliament undertakes also to
reduce payment appropriations compared to its first reading by EUR 2,0 billion.