European Parliament resolution on Draft Supplementary and Amending Budget No 3/2001 of the European Union for the financial year 2001 - Section III - Commission, Section VI - Economic and Social Committee, Section VII - Committee of the Regions (9802/2001 - C5-0271/2001 - 2001/2049(BUD)) and on Draft Supplementary and Amending Budget No 4/2001 of the European Union for the financial year 2001 - Section III - Commission (9803/2001 - C5-0272/2001 - 2001/2094(BUD))
Date: 2001-07-05
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: European Commission, European Committee of the Regions, European Economic and Social Committee, amending budget, draft budget (EU), financial year, research and development, supplementary budget

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2. DSAB 4/2001 (Amendments)

C5-0272/2001

Draft Supplementary and Amending Budget No 4/2001 of the European Union for the financial
year 2001 (cid:129) Section III (cid:129) Commission (9803/2001 (cid:129) C5-0272/2001 (cid:129) 2001/2094(BUD))

Amendment 1

SECTION III (cid:129) COMMISSION (cid:129) Part B

Amend figures as follows:

2001

DSAB No 4/2001

Amendment

New amount

Commitments

Payments

Commitments

Payments

Commitments

Payments

Commitments

Payments

B7-541

Assistance for the countries of the western Balkans

Appropri-
ations
Reserve

304 000 000

145 500 000

304 000 000

230 500 000

+70 000 000

304 000 000

300 500 000

B7-548

Macro-economic assistance to the countries of the Western Balkans

Appropri-
ations
Reserve

80 000 000

40 000 000

80 000 000

40 000 000

+30 000 000

80 000 000

70 000 000

NOMENCLATURE:

Unchanged

REMARKS:

Unchanged

SCHEDULE:

Automated schedule

3. SAB 3 and 4/2001

A5-0239/2001

European Parliament resolution on Draft Supplementary and Amending Budget No 3/2001 of the
European Union for the financial year 2001 (cid:129) Section III (cid:129) Commission, Section VI (cid:129) Economic
and Social Committee, Section VII (cid:129) Committee of the Regions (9802/2001 (cid:129) C5-0271/2001 (cid:129)
2001/2049(BUD)) and on Draft Supplementary and Amending Budget No 4/2001 of the European
Union for the financial year 2001 (cid:129) Section III (cid:129) Commission (9803/2001 (cid:129) C5-0272/2001 (cid:129)
2001/2094(BUD))

The European Parliament,

(cid:129) having regard to Article 272 of the EC Treaty, Article 78 of the ECSC Treaty, and Article 177 of the

Euratom Treaty,

(cid:129) having regard to the Financial Regulation of 21 December 1977 applicable to the general budget of
the European Communities, as last amended by Regulation (EC, ECSC, Euratom) No 762/2001 (1),

(cid:129) 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 pro-
cedure (2),

(1) OJ L 111, 20.4.2001, p. 1.
(2) OJ C 172, 18.6.1999, p. 1.

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(cid:129) having regard to Council Decision 94/728/EC, Euratom of 31 October 1994 on the system of the

European Communities(cid:146) own resources (1),

(cid:129) having regard to Council Decision 2000/597/EC, Euratom of 29 September 2000 on the system of

the European Communities(cid:146) own resources (2),

(cid:129) having regard to the general budget of the European Communities for the financial year 2001, finally

adopted on 14 December 2000 (3),

(cid:129) having regard to Preliminary Draft Supplementary and Amending Budgets No 3/2001 and No 4/2001

of the European Union for the financial year 2001 (SEC(2001) 663 and SEC(2001) 793),

(cid:129) having regard to Draft Supplementary and Amending Budgets No 3/2001, and No 4/2001 (9802/

2001 (cid:129) C5-0271/2001 and 9803/2001 (cid:129) C5-0272/2001),

(cid:129) having regard to Rule 92 of and Annex IV to its Rules of Procedure,

(cid:129) having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets and the opinion of the Committee on

Budgetary Control (A5-0239/2001),

A. whereas Draft Supplementary and Amending Budget No 3/2001 amends the establishment plans of
the Commission, as regards research and development activities and the European Anti-Fraud Office
(OLAF), as well as the establishment plans of the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee
of the Regions,

B. whereas Draft Supplementary and Amending Budget No 4/2001 concerns the balance for the financial
year 2000 and an increase in payment appropriations for assistance to the reconstruction of the
Western Balkans in 2001,

C. whereas the Council has adopted at the same time the Draft Supplementary and Amending Budgets
No 3/2001 and No 4/2001, therefore it is necessary to merge the two procedures in order to avoid
needless administrative burden,

D. whereas there has been a substantial increase in the number of posts for OLAF agreed by the budget-
ary authority over the past two years: 224 in the 2000 budget and 300 in the 2001 budget, and
whereas the setting up of OLAF(cid:146)s management and operational structures has been subject to con-
siderable Commission delay,

E. whereas Parliament, the Council and the Commission have established legislative provisions, which
confer on the Director-General of OLAF appointing authority powers in relation to OLAF staff in
particular establishment of the office(cid:146)s preliminary draft budget which may not be altered by the
Commission before it is sent to the budgetary authority,

F. whereas in the 2001 budget, Parliament significantly amended OLAF(cid:146)s establishment plan, in particu-
lar by increasing the number of temporary posts from 13 to 42 % and the number of B posts in
relation to A posts, and placed the remaining 76 new posts in the reserve until all staff working for
OLAF have been reassessed in accordance with the resolution of 16 May 2000 on protecting the
Communities(cid:146) financial interests and the fight against fraud (4),

G. whereas Draft Supplementary and Amending Budget No 3/2001 contains significant changes to the
OLAF establishment plan adopted by Parliament in December 2000 in particular regarding the bal-
ance between permanent and temporary posts as well as the creation of new specialised units while
the 2001 Budget has not been properly implemented yet,

H. whereas the mid-term strategy to staff OLAF should be presented by the Director of OLAF and

approved by OLAF Supervisory Committee by the end of October 2001,

(1) OJ L 293, 12.11.1994, p. 9.
(2) OJ L 253, 7.10.2000, p. 42.
(3) OJ L 56, 26.2.2001, p. 1.
(4) OJ C 59, 23.2.2001, p. 61.

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I. whereas Draft Supplementary and Amending Budget No 3/2001 also covers for the Committee of
Regions and the Economic and Social Committee the recruitment of two temporary A grade staff, as
well as contract extension for another temporary A grade staff member and one temporary B grade
staff member for monitoring the refurbishment of the Belliard building,

J. whereas the two committees will become owners of the building at the end of the lease contract, and
have therefore to monitor all the financial, technical and legal aspects of the refurbishment, involving
both the appropriations made available by the Community budget as well as the monies invested by
the owner of the building,

K. whereas the Commission entered the final calculation of the correction of budgetary imbalances in
favour of the United Kingdom for 1997 in the PDSAB No 4/2001, as well as updated correction
figures for 1999 and 2000 in order to reduce inaccuracies and reduce the need for significant adjust-
ments to the final calculations,

L. whereas the balance is the difference between revenue and expenditure pursuant to Article 15 of
Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1150/2000 (1), and whereas the balance from the 2000 budget presents
a surplus of € 11,6 billion, which is to be entered as revenue in the 2001 budget through SAB 4/
2001,

M. whereas revenue for 2000 was higher than expected and the level of expenditure under the 2000
budget was one of the lowest in recent years, with a particularly low implementation rate of only
88 % of the appropriations made available by the budgetary authority,

N. whereas the Commission has failed to implement the appropriations decided by the budgetary auth-
ority on the basis of the priorities of the Union, thus denying citizens the possibility of benefiting
from its budget,

O. whereas responsibility for this must be shared between the Commission and Council which by adopt-

ing the appropriate legal bases late, jeopardises implementation of the available funding,

P. whereas the budget adopted must be more closely followed up and monitored by the budgetary
authority in order to anticipate and prevent under-utilisation of appropriations as far as possible,

1.
Decides to deal with the two Draft Supplementary and Amending Budgets in a single procedure in
order to avoid needless administrative costs and to speed up implementation of the proposed changes,
adopts, in accordance with the result oon the budget amendments, a single budgetary act, which includes
Draft Supplementary and Amending Budgets No 3/2001 and No 4/2001, adopted by the Council;

2. Welcomes that the Commission has revised through PDSAB No 3/2001 its forecasts on adminis-
trative RTD expenditure made in PDB 2001, which will lead to a transfer of € 5,6 million from adminis-
trative to operational expenditure;

3.
Agrees to set up 27 new posts for shared-cost RTD projects but decides that the 15 posts dedicated
for administrative purposes should be placed in the lower levels of the corresponding categories (A7, A8,
B5 and C5);

4.
Agrees that payment appropriations must match commitment appropriations as stated in the Finan-
cial Regulation, particularly in the case of the Balkans where take-up of appropriations is high and rapid,
and therefore stresses the need for supplementary payments to cover the gap between commitments (€ 839
million) and payments (€ 515 million) for Chapter B7-54;

5.
Takes note that the Commission indicates needs in payment appropriations at € 420 million for the
Balkans and that an additional € 30 million are necessary to finance a grant to the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia; considers it necessary, for the time being, to avoid further reductions or redeployment, and
welcomes the budgetary authorities(cid:146) decision to provide € 100 million additionally to cover these estimated
needs;

(1) OJ L 130, 31.5.2000, p. 1.

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Agrees to the additional remarks for Article B7-702A allowing administrative expenditure for Arti-

6.
cles B7-704 and B7-709 to be covered without requiring additional appropriations;

Considers that the adjustments in the OLAF establishment plan in DSAB No 3/2001 do not reflect

7.
the objectives that OLAF should achieve according to Parliament(cid:146)s approach;

Agrees to the part of DSAB No 3/2001 that deals with the Economic and Social Committee and the

8.
Committee of the Regions;

9.

Agrees to the part of the DSAB No 4/2001 that deals with the revenue side of the budget;

Is deeply concerned about the budgetary rigour of the Commission and the Council, when the

10.
expenditure of the year 2000 was over-estimated by € 8,5 billion, or 10,6 %;

Amends Draft Supplementary and Amending Budgets No 3/2001 and No 4/2001 concerning the

11.
following elements:

(cid:129) Research establishment plan: place 15 posts in the lower levels of the corresponding categories;

(cid:129) OLAF establishment plan: welcomes the approval of the budgetary amendment to the OLAF establish-
ment plan modifying the breakdown between permanent and temporary posts and restoring the
3 posts deleted by the Council and enters € 3,8 billion in reserve until a redeployment of 10 A
officials from OLAF to the Commission services is achieved and until a favourable opinion is given
by OLAF Supervisory Committee;

(cid:129) B7-54: increase payment appropriations required for the EU assistance in the Balkans;

12.

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the other institutions.

4. EU own resources in 2001

A5-0238/2001

European Parliament resolution on the situation concerning the European Union(cid:146)s own resources
in 2001 (2001/2019(INI))

The European Parliament,

(cid:129) having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 272
thereof, and the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community, and in particular Arti-
cle 173 thereof,

(cid:129) having regard to Council Decision 94/728/EC, Euratom of 31 October 1994 on the European Com-

munities(cid:146) system of own resources (1),

(cid:129) having regard to Council Decision 2000/597/EC, Euratom of 29 September 2000 on the system of

the European Communities(cid:146) own resources (2),

(cid:129) having regard to the general budget of the European Union for the 2001 financial year, finally

adopted on 14 December 2000 (3),

(cid:129) having regard to its resolutions of 21 April 1994 on a new system of own resources for the European

Union (4) and 22 November 1990 on the future financing of the European Community (5),

(1) OJ L 293, 12.11.1994, p. 9.
(2) OJ L 253, 7.10.2000, p. 42.
(3) OJ L 56, 26.2.2001, p. 1.
(4) OJ C 128, 9.5.1994, p. 363.
(5) OJ C 324, 24.12.1990, p. 243.