Brussels, 12/04/2006 (Agence Europe) - As announced (see EUROPE 9172), the European Commission adopted a preliminary draft amending budget on 12 April on the 2005 budget surplus, which stands at only EU R2.410 bn, the lowest surplus since 1997. The 2005 surplus is 2.3% of the total budget. In 2004, the surplus was 2.6% of the total budget, in 2003 it stood at 5.9%, and in 2002 at 7.8%. Dalia Grybauskaité, European Commissioner for Financial Programming and Budget, commented: “Better planning and the constant improvement of EU budget management at all levels are bearing fruit. Member States now annually pay into the EU budget only as much as is really needed”.
Once adopted by the two arms of the Budget Authority (the Council and the Parliament), the proposal will allow EU Member States' contributions to the 2006 budget to be cut by a total of EUR 2.410 bn. These cuts will be particularly significant for Germany (-496 million euros), the United Kingdom (-415 million euros), France (-383 million euros), Italy (-314 million euros), Spain (-196 million euros), and the Netherlands (-106 million euros).
Budget execution reached a record high in 2005; only 1% of the EU budget, or € 1 077 million, was left unused. This figure, coupled with extra revenue of € 1 292 million, will reduce this year's national contributions to the EU budget by a total of € 2 410 million - a new record low since 1997. If unused special reserves are excluded from the calculations (by definition reserves are meant to be used only for unexpected expenditure), the level of planned but unused EU funding in 2005 was even lower than € 1 billion; it amounted to € 871 million, or 0.8% of the total budget of € 105,7 billion (payment appropriations).
For agriculture, the sum not spent amounted to € 157 million or 0,3% out of € 48 510 million. For structural funding it was € 58 million (0.2%) out of a total € 32 641 million. In external action, unused funding was limited to € 181 million or 3.5% of the total allowance (4% in the previous year). Compared to 2004, a proportionally higher level of unspent funding was registered for the pre-accession strategy, with € 463 million left of a total of € 3 428 million (13.5%), due mainly to the late transmission of payment claims by national authorities. The extra revenue in the EU budget came mainly from third-party contributions: € 1 167,5 million out of € 1 292 million.
The next Provisional Draft Amending Budget, to be proposed at the beginning of June, will adjust Member State contributions for 2006 in light of revised forecasts for GNI, VAT and customs duties, updated amounts for the UK correction, and the surplus from the Guarantee Fund for external actions.