Brussels, 16/07/2002 (Agence Europe) - The ministers of the Economy, Finance and Budget of EU Member States are to meet, on Friday in Brussels, to adopt the draft budget 2003 at first reading. The draft budget should be characterised by the three following principles: - full respect of each of the annual spending ceilings set by the financial perspectives (and therefore refusing mobilisation of the flexibility instrument proposed by the European Commission); - creation of sufficient margins under the ceilings of the different headings (except for the structural funds and pre-accession spending); - control of the rise in allocation volumes to take into account the capacity of execution, the slower rate of payments entailed by the commitments outstanding and constraints exercised on national budgets.
The work of the Council will begin at 11h00 in order to prepare the usual consultation meeting with a delegation of the European Parliament (to be attended by Commissioner Michaele Schreyer), which should mainly be dominated by the debate on preparing the institutions for enlargement and the Council's requests on common foreign and security policy (CFSP) (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.13 on the results of the trilogue on 11 July). It is only in the afternoon that the Council will carry out a first reading of the proposed general budget for next year, on the basis of the work by the Committee of Permanent Representatives for EU Member States (Coreper) and the Council's Budgetary Committee.
We give below a brief summary of the main points of the agreement reached by Coreper during tis meetings on 10 July:
"Controlled" increase in payment appropriations: The Council should agree on a 1.4% rise in payments (still compared to the 2002 budget) to EUR 96.957 billion (as opposed to EUR 98.217 billion according to the Commission's preliminary draft budget) and 0.9% of commitment appropriations (EUR 99.509 billion, instead of EUR 100 billion proposed by the Commission). We point out that the question of payments will be settled at the end of the procedure, during the second reading of the Parliament.
Agriculture: In order to continue in its efforts of budgetary constraint and to reach a sufficient margin given the uncertainties that exist at the present time under this heading, the Council could (if it follows the Coreper agreement) foresee a reduction of EUR 275 million on the lines of all the chapters for which the amount is above EUR 1.5 billion (arable crops, olive oil, fruit and vegetables, milk and dairy products, beef and veal, and sheep and goatmeat). The appropriations proposed for rural development programmes should be accepted (EUR 4.698 billion, that is, +1.92% compared to 2002).
Structural actions: Due to the considerable under-use of allocations over recent years, the Council is expected to agree to a linear reduction of EUR 525 million in payment appropriations over the whole of the main budget lines (Structural Funds, EAGGF-Guidance, FIFG, ERDF, ESF). At this stage, it is foreseen that the amount of EUR 27 million (commitments) will not be included under the programme for restructuring the Spanish and Portuguese fishing fleets.
Internal policies: Coreper reached agreement on accepting the amounts proposed for the multiannual programmes in codecision, except concerning trans-European networks in particular. It was decided that two preparatory actions, covering non-Community areas (sports and cultural cooperation), would not be taken on board, and that allocations would be increased for special annual events concerning the special world Olympic games 2003.
External actions: The Council is expected to decide there will be a reduction in payments on a limited number of budgetary lines (Latin America, Balkans, Independent States, NIS, and Mongolia) and an increase in allocations for East Timor and CFSP.
Administrative spending: The Council is to take up the Coreper compromise providing for a budget of EUR 430,000 to cover its own spending in 2003, that is 7% more than the 2002 budget, and as much as almost 12% taking into account the cost of translating acquis communatuaire into nine new languages (instead of ten proposed). The Council should mark its agreement to the creation of 236 of 288 of its new posts for "pre-enlargement" expenditure. The Commission's expenditure would be reduced by EUR 64 million (+3.27% compared to the budget 2002, whereas the Commission hoped for a 5.16% rise) in order to respect the ceiling of financial perspectives and avoid the use of the flexibility instrument.
Pre-accession instruments: The acceptance of the APB's commitment allocations and the fall of EUR 300 million for payments in order to take into account the under-implementation of payments.