Brussels, 24/11/2000 (Agence Europe) - During the long night of budget discussions, the Council and the Parliament agreed on all the points of the Budget 2001 on which they had hitherto been opposed. By reaching a compromise on Thursday that they were all tending towards - the Council agreed to increase aid to the Balkans by using the flexibility instrument, and the Parliament agreed in exchange to limit the rise in payment appropriations - both branches of the budgetary authority and the European Commission for once avoided prolonging discussions until second reading of the draft budget by Parliament, in December.
- The central point of the agreement is on aid to the Balkans. The Council accepted the figure proposed by the Commission with the support of the EP: a global allocation of EUR 839 million, including 240 million for Serbia (see yesterday's EUROPE, p13). In order to finance this aid, the Council agreed to use the 200 million from the flexibility instrument. This "instrument" will make it possible to add EUR 200 million to foreign policy spending without officially carrying out revision of the ceiling for this heading, fixed by the financial perspectives 2000-2006, finalised last year in Berlin. The Council had earlier refused to use the flexibility instrument. The Commission and the Parliament, for their part, gave up the idea of increasing the ceiling for Heading 4 for the Budget 2001 and the following years, an increase that both Institutions requested, but did not insist upon.
Commissioner Schreyer welcomed this "political and financial message for the Zagreb Summit". The Chair of the EP budgets committee, Terry Wynn, though stressing that the EP had had to abandon its request for raising the ceiling of Heading 4 (external policies), felt that the flexibility instrument "would make it possible to achieve most of the objectives of the EP for heading 4".
- The EP agreed to limit to 3.5% the increase in payment appropriations compared to the 2000 budget, as the Council recommended. Payments represent money effectively paid out during the financial period, and the level of payments therefore determines the contribution made by each Member State. The Council voted a 2.5% increase. The EP may therefore increase these credits by one percentage point.
- Mad cow: The EP and the Council agreed to allocate EUR 60 million for BSE screening tests (the EP had proposed a higher amount). The president, Florence Parly, told the press that "it goes without saying that, if additional needs should appear, the Council and the Parliament will do everything possible to release additional funding". There is still a margin of EUR 1.2 billion in the market expenditure heading.
- Employment: The EP fixed with the Council a mult-iannual budget for the "entrepreneurial spirit" programme. The allocation is 450 million for 2001 to 2005, including 100 million in 2001.
- Meda: The Council maintained its vote for EUR 701 million, but there is a margin in Heading 4 that will allow the EP to increase this amount. In Parliament there is talk of 40 million more.
- Commission reform: The EP delegation agreed to lift the reservation voted by the plenary in first reading for external actions and administrative spending, reserves that were conditional upon Commission internal reform commitments. The EP and Council decided to "continue dialogue on the financial consequences of this reform in 2001, in the context of an informal meeting", said Florence Parly. Before end June 2001, the Commission is expected to present a report to them.
- Pre-accession aid: The Council maintained its reduction of payment appropriations compared to the Commission's proposal due to the "under-implementation of credits" this year.
- EUR 95.8 billion in commitments and 91.7 billion in payments
The Council adopted the following amounts, in billions of euros (CA = commitment appropriations, PA = payment appropriations): 1) agricultural market spending (38.8 CA and PA); rural development (4.49 CA and PA); 2) structural actions (32.72 CA and 31.19 PA); 3) internal policies (6.14 CA and 5.78 PA); 4) external actions (4.62 CA and 3.83 PA), to which must be added the flexibility instrument (0.2); 5) administrative expenditure (4.86 CA and PA); 6) reserves (0.916 CA and PA); 7) pre-accession aid (3.24 CA and 1.88 PA).
Budget 2001 will be finally adopted by the European Parliament in the week of 11 December. The chairman of the budgets committee, who stressed the day after the Council that "both sides have a good deal" in the agreement, is reported to have assured the Council that the plenary was going to follow the opinion of his delegation at consultation, and approve the agreement. The plenary will have a payment appropriation margin and a margin for increasing several commitment appropriations here and there, mainly under Heading 4, but the main lines of the Budget 2001 have now been fixed.
