Brussels, 05/12/2001 (Agence Europe) - Due to delays by five Member States (Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain, Portugal and Italy) in the ratification of the September 2000 decision on own-resources, the Commission proposed a provisional solution on Wednesday to ensure the funding of next year's budget. On a proposal by Michaele Schreyer, the Commission handed the budgetary authority an amending letter No.3 that will allow for the situation to be remedied by prolonging the current system by a few months. A certain number of countries for which a reduction in contributions under the new system of own-resources had been planned (Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, the United Kingdom) will be losers in a way, as they will have to pay more in the first months of 2002.. As example, Germany will pay 700 million lira more. Once the ratification procedures are over, these countries will gradually be refunded. "Member States should take their own decisions a little more seriously" said Ms. Schreyer, adding that these delays had as effect to "maximise bureaucracy".