Amending letter no 3 to the preliminary draft budget 2010 - Statement of expenditure by section - Section II - Council
Date: 2009-11-26
Institutions: Directorate-General for Budget, European Commission
Subjects: EU expenditure, European Council, amending budget, operation of the Institutions, personnel administration, preliminary draft EC budget

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 26.11.2009 
SEC(2009)1635 final 

AMENDING LETTER No 3 
TO THE PRELIMINARY DRAFT BUDGET 2010 

STATEMENT OF EXPENDITURE BY SECTION 
Section II - Council 

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AMENDING LETTER No 3 
TO THE PRELIMINARY DRAFT BUDGET 2010 

STATEMENT OF EXPENDITURE BY SECTION 
Section II - Council 

Having regard to: 

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the  Treaty  establishing  the  European  Community,  and  in  particular  Article 272 
thereof, 

the  Treaty  establishing  the  European  Atomic  Energy  Community,  and  in  particular 
Article 177 thereof, 

the  Council  Regulation  (EC,  Euratom)  No  1605/2002  of  25  June  2002  on  the 
Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities1, 
as  last  amended  by  Council  Regulation  (EC,  Euratom)  No  1525/20072,  and  in 
particular Article 34 thereof, 

the  European  Commission  hereby  presents  to  the  budgetary  authority  the  amending  letter 
No 3  to  the  Preliminary  Draft  Budget  for  2010  for  the  reasons  set  out  in  the  explanatory 
memorandum. 

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OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1. 
OJ L 343, 27.12.2006, p.9. 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 

1. 

2. 

Introduction .................................................................................................................. 3 

Presentation of expenditure by nature.......................................................................... 5 

STATEMENT OF EXPENDITURE BY SECTION 

The statement of expenditure by section is forwarded separately via the SEI-BUD system. An 
English  version  of  the  expenditure  by  section  is  attached  for  information  as  a  budgetary 
annex. 

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1. 

1.1 

INTRODUCTION 

This  letter  of  amendment  to  the  preliminary  draft  budget  of  the  Council  for  the 
financial year 2010 presents an estimate of the appropriations needed to finance the 
consequences of the  entry  into force  of  the Treaty  of Lisbon for  the functioning of 
the European Council and the Council in 2010.  

It is important to underline that as far as the European Council and its President are 
concerned, this is an initial estimate for the start up phase. The resource requirements 
for the European Council and its President may evolve in the future. 

1.2 

This amendment gives a provision for: 

a) 

The creation of the European Council as an Institution3. 

The direct consequence of the creation of the European Council as an Institution is 
that  the  events  to  which  participate  the  Heads  of  State  and  Government  and  which 
were  organised  by  the  Member  State  holding  the  Presidency  in  the  past,  will  be 
organised in principle by the new Institution in the future. The cost of these events 
shift thus from the budget of the Member State in question to the EU-budget.  

This  affects  in  the  first  place  the  organisation  of  the  meetings  of  the  European 
Council.  Until  now,  the  available  resources  (building,  staff)  of  the  Council  have 
covered,  to  a  large  extent,  the  activities  of  the  European  Council.  The  incremental 
costs  of  summits  have  so  far  been  financed  by  the  Member  State  ensuring  the 
presidency  and  administered  by  the  GSC4.  On  the  basis  of  experience  of  previous 
years the incremental cost of a session of the European Council may be estimated to 
EUR 1,3 million. The current proposal foresees the expenditure to cover the cost of 
the organisation of 5 summits, which corresponds to an amount of EUR 6,5 million.  

In  addition,  the  cost  of  summits  with  third  countries  has  until  now  been  borne 
exclusively  by  the  Member  State  holding  the  rotating  Presidency.  The  technical 
estimate5 for these meetings, which in the future will be organised by the President of 
the European Council amounts to EUR 2,5 million. 

Finally,  since  a  large  part  of  the  events  mentioned  above  will  be  organised  in  the 
premises of the European Council and the Council, investment in infrastructure has 
to be foreseen. A provision for refurbishment, technical and IT equipment, furniture 
and transportation means an amount of EUR 3,1 million is envisaged. 

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New article 13 of the Treaty on European Union. 
The appropriations needed for the financing of the summits are treated as assigned revenue in 
the budget of the Council. 
It should be noted that this figure is based on 2 assumptions made by the Secretariat: 
 In conformity with the declaration of the European Council of 12 December 2008 (17271/08,
 page 13) on the transitional measures concerning the Presidency of the European Council, all
 activities organised during the first semester of 2010 in Spain, will be financed by the Spanish
 Presidency. 
 Meeting organised outside of the seat of European Council and the Council will be financed
 by the Member State holding the Presidency. 

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b) 

The creation of the function of President of the European Council6 

The means allowing the President to act should be foreseen in the budget for 2010. 
The  provision  should  cover  the  emoluments  of  the  President,  the  staffing  of  his 
Private Office, the security and the press service as well as mission expenditure. 

The  technical  estimate  for  the  function  of  the  President  for  2010  amounts  to 
EUR 1,5 million including his travel and representation costs. 

The  estimate  for  the  staffing  of  his  Private  Office  and  his  personal  security  is 
EUR 4,5 million  including  remuneration  (EUR 3,9 million)  and  mission  costs 
(EUR 0,4 million) and other expenditure (EUR 0,2 million). 

c) 

Increase of co-decision 

As  a  consequence  of  the  Treaty  the  volume  of  co-decision  procedures  will 
significantly  increase.  This  means  that  it  is  necessary  to  reinforce  the  existing 
resources  of  the  Council  (e.g.  preparation  of  legislation,  Irish  translation).  The 
estimate for this reinforcement amounts to EUR 1,9 million. 

d) 

Reserve 

An  amount  of  EUR 3,5 million  is  placed  in  a  reserve  since  it  is  not  possible  at  the 
moment to foresee how the activities of the European Council and its President will 
develop. 

1.3 

In summary, the GSC proposes to increase the budget for 2010 by an overall amount 
of EUR 23,5 million and an increase of the establishment plan with 60 posts. 

Compared  to  the  preliminary  draft  budget  established  in  April  2009,  the  proposal 
would lead to a budget of section II of EUR 638,652 million (increase compared to 
original PDB 2010 by3,8 %). 

1.4 

The fixed costs for the functioning of the European Council (buildings, operational 
expenditure, and staff) have always been provided for under section II of the budget 
of the European Union. According to article 235.4 of the TFEU7 this approach will 
be  maintained.  The  incremental  cost  of  the  creation  of  the  European  Council  as  an 
institution will be added to the existing resources. 

These  additional  resources  will  be  presented  in  section  II  of  the  general  budget, 
entitled "Council and European Council" 8. 

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New article 15 of the Treaty on European Union. 
"The European Council shall be assisted by the General Secretariat of the Council". 
"Article 316 of the TFEU allows this interpretation: "The expenditure of the European Parliament, the 
European Council and the Council, the Commission and the Court of Justice shall be set out in separate 
parts  of  the  budget,  without  prejudice  to  special  arrangements  for  certain  common  items  of 
expenditure". 

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2. 

PRESENTATION OF EXPENDITURE BY NATURE 

2.1 

Members of the institution (chapter 10) 

The provisional appropriation includes appropriations of ca 1,5 m€ destined to cover: 

•  the salary and other entitlements of the President of the European Council in his 

first year of the entry into service9,  

•  a provision for the President's travel and representation costs.  

2.2 

Increase of the establishment plan 2010 (chapter 11) 

The  GSC  proposes  an  increase  of  the  establishment  plan  related  to  the  entry  into 
force  of  the  Treaty.  It  is  proposed  that  22  new  posts10  are  created  to  constitute  the 
basis  for  the  future  cabinet  of  the  President  of  the  European  Council.  These  posts 
include: 

•  Head of Private Office, 

•  Deputy Head of Private Office, 

•  6 administrators for the Private Office, 

•  2 press officers, 

•  12 assistants 

In addition, 10 additional security agents are foreseen for the personal protection of 
the President. 

Finally,  the  GSC  proposes  to  reinforce  other  GSC's  services,  notably:  DGF 
(Press/Communication), DGA2 (Protocol/Conferences/Infrastructures), DG H (JAI), 
as well as Department for General Political Questions by a total of 28 officials. 

The  result  of  the  above  mentioned  modifications  of  the  establishment  plan  is  an 
increase of the budgetary appropriations by EUR 5,8 million. 

2.3 

Other staff expenditure (chapter 12 and 13) 

The provisional appropriations include appropriations of EUR 0,4 million destined to 
finance  mission  expenditures  related  to  travel  of  the  direct  collaborators  of  the 
President11,  as  well  media  coverage  of  the  meetings  and  organised  events 
(EUR 0,2 million). A provision of EUR 0,2 million is foreseen for medical expenses. 

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Regulation  no  422/67/EEC  of  25  July  1967  modified  by  regulation  no  1292/2004  of  the  Council  of 
30/4/2004 
The President of the EP currently has a Private Office of 37 posts, the president of the Commission of 
33. 
The provision for the President mission expenditure is foreseen under chapter 10 and amounts 
to EUR 0,9 million. 

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2.4 

Immovable property (chapter 20) 

An  amount  of  EUR 2,4 million  is  foreseen  to  cover  incremental  building  related 
costs  needed  for  the  organisation  of  the  European  Council  notably  security  and 
cleaning services12. 

2.5 

IT, equipments and furniture (chapter 21) 

The GSC foresees appropriations of ca 2,6 m€  for additional spending in the area of 
IT,  purchase,  renting  and  maintenance  of  equipment  and  means  of  transportation. 
These appropriations should cover the need for: 

•  the adaptation of the existing infrastructure, 

•  the incremental costs of organisation of the European Council summits (telephone 

lines, communication equipment), 

•  media coverage of the events organised by the European Council, 

•  purchase and maintenance of armoured vehicle for the President. 

2.6 

Operating expenditure (chapter 22) 

The  GSC  foresees  that  EUR 6,9 million  will  be  necessary  to  cover  the  operating 
expenditure  related  to  the  organisation  of  summits,  and  conferences  with  third 
countries and other meetings in the framework of activities of the European Council 
and its President.  

2.7 

Reserve 

A significant reserve of EUR 3,5 million is foreseen. This relatively high amount is 
necessary since it is not possible at this stage to foresee exactly how the activities of 
the European Council and its President will develop. 

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This amount is based on the experience from previous events. 

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