REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on EAGF expenditure Early Warning System No 1-4/2014
Date: 2014-04-22
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EAGF, aid to agriculture, budgetary procedure, implementation of the budget, single payment scheme













EUR-Lex - 52014DC0241 - EN











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52014DC0241

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on EAGF expenditure Early Warning System No 1-4/2014 /* COM/2014/0241 final */









TABLE OF CONTENTS
1........... The 2014
EAGF budgetary procedure......................................................................... 3
2........... Revenue assigned to EAGF......................................................................................... 3
3........... Comments on the implementation of the 2014 EAGF budget..................................... 4
4........... Implementation of revenue assigned to EAGF............................................................ 6
5........... Conclusions................................................................................................................... 6
 annex 1: annex 2: || The 2014 Budgetary Procedure Provisional consumption of EAGF appropriations up to 28/02/2014 

1.                      
The 2014 EAGF budgetary procedure

The 2014 budgetary procedure for the European
Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and the corresponding amounts of
appropriations involved at each stage of the procedure are summarised in the
table presented in Annex 1.
The 2014 EAGF budget was adopted by the
European Parliament on 20 November 2013. The budget included commitment and
payment appropriations amounting to EUR 43 778.1 million and to
EUR 43 777.0 million respectively for agricultural market
measures and direct aids 
The difference between commitment and payment
appropriations is due to the fact, that for certain measures, which are
directly implemented by the Commission, differentiated appropriations are used.
These relate mainly to promotion measures for agricultural products and to
policy strategy and coordination measures for agriculture.

2.                      
Revenue assigned to EAGF

On the basis of the provisions of Article 43
of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 on the financing, management and
monitoring of the common agricultural policy revenue originating from financial
corrections under accounting and conformity clearance decisions, from
irregularities and from the milk levy are designated as revenue assigned to the
financing of EAGF expenditure. According to these provisions, assigned revenue
can be used to cover the financing of any EAGF expenditure. If part of this
revenue is not used within the budget year, then, this part will be
automatically carried forward to the following budget year[1].
The 2014 EAGF
budget included both: the Commission's latest estimates of the needs to finance
the expected expenditure for market measures and direct aids, and the estimates
of the assigned revenue which was expected to be collected in the course of the
budget year concerned as well as the carryover of the balance of assigned
revenue left available from the previous budget year. In its proposal for the 2014
EAGF budget appropriations, the Commission took into consideration the total
expected assigned revenue and requested for the 2014 budget a level of
appropriations calculated by deducting the estimated assigned revenue from the
estimated needs.  The Budgetary Authority adopted the EAGF budget taking
account of the expected assigned revenue. 
At the time of establishing the budget for 2014,
the Commission’s estimates for the available assigned revenue amounted to
EUR 1 464 million. Specifically: 
–              
The assigned revenue expected to be generated in
the course of the 2014 budget year was estimated at EUR 849 million.
Amounts of EUR 638 million and EUR 165 million were
expected from conformity clearance corrections and from irregularities
respectively. The receipts from the milk levy were estimated at EUR 46 million.
–              
The amount of assigned revenue expected to be
carried over from the budget year 2013 into 2014 was estimated at EUR 615 million.
In the 2014 budget, the Commission assigned
this initially estimated revenue of EUR 1 464 million to two
schemes. Specifically: 
–              
EUR 464 million was assigned to the
operational funds for producer organisations in the fruits and vegetables
sector, and
–              
EUR 1 000 million to the single
payment scheme. 
For these two schemes, the Budgetary Authority
eventually voted appropriations amounting to EUR 285 million and to
EUR 30 083 million respectively, in accordance with the Commission’s
proposal. The sum of the voted appropriations and the assigned revenue
mentioned above corresponds to a total estimate of available appropriations of
EUR 749 million for the operational funds for producer organisations
in the fruits and vegetables sector and EUR 31 083 million for
the single payment scheme.
In annex 2, which presents the 2014 budget’s
provisional execution for the period to 28 February 2014, the figures
of the budget appropriations at article level for the fruit and
vegetables sector and for the decoupled direct aids present voted
appropriations for these two schemes amounting to EUR 676.7 million
and to EUR 38 252 million respectively, without taking account
of the aforementioned assigned revenue. Including the revenue assigned to these
sectors, the total appropriations foreseen in the 2014 budget amounted to
EUR 1 140.7 million for fruits and vegetables and to
EUR 39 252 million for decoupled direct aids. 

3.                      
Comments on the provisional implementation of
the 2014 EAGF budget

The budget’s provisional implementation for the
period 16 October 2013 to 28 February 2014 is presented in
Annex 2. This implementation level is compared to the expenditure profile based
on the indicator, which was established on the basis of the dispositions of
Article 28 of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013. Below a brief commentary is
presented for certain budget articles, showing the most significant differences
between the actual and the expected level of implementation of the 2014 budget.

3.1.                
Market measures

The uptake of appropriations for interventions
in agricultural markets was higher compared to the level of the budget's voted
appropriations, as determined by the level of the indicator on 28 February 2014,
by EUR 76.5 million. This divergence is the net effect of the execution
patterns primarily in the fruits and vegetables and wine sectors.  

3.1.1.          
Fruit and vegetables (+ EUR 105.7 million in
comparison with voted appropriations)

As regards voted appropriations, this
implementation level is primarily due to the expenditure for the operational
funds for producer organisations scheme, which is funded both by the budget’s
voted appropriations and by the revenue assigned to this scheme in the 2014
budget (NB: For details please see point 2 above). This implementation level is
the result of applying the indicator for the period to 28 February 2014
to the budget’s voted appropriations, which do not include the revenue assigned
to this sector. 
A footnote * in the provisional execution table
in annex 2 shows what the situation would be, had the indicator, as of 28 February 2014,
been applied to the total appropriations, which are expected to be available in
order to fund this sector. As it is pointed out in point 2 above, the total
funding expected to be available for this sector is composed of the budget’s
voted appropriations of EUR 676.7 million and of the revenue assigned to this
sector which is estimated at EUR 464 million. Therefore, had the indicator been
applied to the total funding of EUR 1 140.7 million expected to be
available for this sector, then, an under-execution of - EUR 6.4 million would
appear, being the net effect of an acceleration in the rhythm of payments for the
producer organisations scheme and a slower uptake of appropriations for the
school fruit scheme and the aid to producer groups for preliminary recognition. At this point in time, this situation is considered
to be temporary and a full execution of the budget is expected. 

3.1.2.          
Products of the wine-growing sector (- EUR 39.6
million)

This under-execution is due to the slower rhythm
of payments made by the Member States compared to the expenditure profile of
the established indicator for the national wine programmes. At this point in time,
this situation is considered to be temporary.  

3.2.                
Direct aids 

The uptake of appropriations for direct aids
compared to the level of the indicator on 28 February 2014 was higher
by EUR 1 366.8 million. 

3.2.1.          
Decoupled direct aids (+EUR 1 502.3 million
in comparison with voted appropriations)

As regards voted appropriations, this
implementation level is primarily due to the expenditure for the single payment
scheme, which is funded both by the budget’s voted appropriations and by the
revenue assigned to this scheme in the 2014 budget (NB: For details please see
point 2 above). This implementation level is the result of applying the
indicator for the period to 28 February 2014 to the budget’s voted
appropriations, which do not include the revenue assigned to this sector.  
A footnote * in the provisional execution table
in annex 2 shows which would be the situation had the indicator, as at 28 February 2014,
been applied to the total appropriations which are expected to be available in
order to fund decoupled direct aids. As it is pointed out in point 2 above, the
total funding expected to be available for decoupled direct aids is composed of
the budget’s voted appropriations of EUR 38 252 million and of
the revenue assigned to decoupled direct aids which is estimated to amount to
EUR 1 000 million. Therefore, had the indicator been applied to
the total funding of EUR 39 252 million expected to be available
for decoupled direct aids, then, the observed over-execution would be reduced
to EUR 587.2 million. 
The level of implementation of the budget for
decoupled direct aids results from an acceleration in the rhythm of payments
for almost all schemes in this sector namely as a result of generally
authorised advances for direct payments that were paid without financial
discipline reduction. This situation is to be regularised in principle before
30 June 2014 with the payment of the balance, from which financial discipline
reduction due on the total of the payment will be deducted.
The Commission expects, at this point in time, that
available appropriations and assigned revenue would be sufficient to cover the funding
needs for this article. 

3.2.2.          
Other direct aids (- EUR 135.3 million)

This under-implementation of voted
appropriations for other direct aids as compared to the expenditure profile of
the established indicator on 28 February 2014 is the effect of the slower
payment rhythm for some schemes in this sector, in particular for cotton area
aid and specific support under article 68 – coupled. At this point in time,
this situation is considered to be temporary. However, the Commission follows up closely the evolution in the
execution pattern for these schemes.

3.3.                
Audit of agricultural expenditure (- EUR 16.8 million)

In addition to direct payments for monitoring
and preventive measures amounting to EUR 6.8 million, the 2014 budget included
estimates of EUR 53.4 million for payments concerning settlement of disputes. When
establishing the expenditure profile for the settlement of disputes, it was
assumed that Member States would pay these amounts evenly for each month of the
period January to October 2014. However, as of 28 February 2014,
Member States have not made any such payments yet. As a consequence, an
under-execution in relation to the level of the indicator resulted for this
chapter of the 2014 budget. At this point in time, this situation is considered
to be temporary and a full execution of the budget is expected.  

4.                      
Implementation of revenue assigned to EAGF

The table in
Annex 2 shows that assigned revenue amounting to EUR 542.3 million
was collected as of 28 February 2014. Specifically:
–              
the revenue from corrections based on accounting
and conformity clearance decisions amounted to EUR 415.7 million with
additional amounts still expected by the end of the budget year;
–              
the revenue from irregularities amounted to
EUR 80.0 million with additional amounts also expected by the end of
the budget year, and 
–              
at this point in time, most of the revenue from
the milk levy has been collected and it amounts to approximately EUR 46.5 million;
Finally, the amount of assigned revenue
eventually carried over from 2013 into 2014 amounted to EUR 710.2 million.
This amount is significantly higher than the initially estimated amount of
EUR 615 million.
Therefore, the amount of assigned revenue
available for financing EAGF expenditure, on 28 February 2014,
amounts to EUR 1 252.5 million with additional amounts of
freshly collected assigned revenue expected by the end of the budget year.

5.                      
Conclusions

The provisional execution of the 2014 EAGF
budget's appropriations, for the period up to 28 February 2014, shows
that monthly reimbursements to Member States exceeded the expenditure profile
for budget execution based on the indicator, by approximately EUR 1 425.8 million.

Assigned revenue amounting to EUR 1 252.5 million
is already available and additional amounts are still expected to be collected
in 2014. At this point in time, the Commission considers that the amount of
assigned revenue which will be available by the end of the year will be
sufficient to cover the funding of the operational funds for producer
organisations and of the single payment scheme as originally expected when the
2014 budget was established.
[1]                  Art
14 of Regulation (EU, EURATOM) No 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of
the Council on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union determines that internal assigned revenue shall be carried over for one year only.
Thus, in the interest of sound budgetary management, this assigned revenue is
in general used first before any voted appropriation of the budget article
concerned.