Brussels, 14/09/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 13 September, the European Commission adopted a draft amendment to the 2007 budget to cover new requirements, including the €172.2 million in commitment appropriations from the Solidarity Fund for Germany (€166.9 million following the violent storms of January 2007) and the French island of La Reunion in the Caribbean (€5.3 million to cover damage caused by a tropical cyclone in February 2007).
The preliminary draft amending budget for 2007 (the sixth so far this year) will also cover the following additional requirements: 1) €35.5 million commitment appropriations to pay compensation to plaintiffs (rulings issued on 12 July 2007 by the European Court of First Instance in cases T45/01 (Sanders) and T/144/02 (Eagle) whereby the European Commission must pay substantial compensation to more than a hundred plaintiffs, former contractual agents for common enterprise JET who appealed against not being recruited as Euratom agents; 2) the creation of a new article in the budget to meet financial obligations arising from the European Community joining the World Customs Organisation; and 3) technical adjustments in the 2007 budget following the adoption of recent decisions on the 2007-2013 civil protection financial instrument and the LIFE+ environment fund).
The requirements detailed in the preliminary draft amending budget total €207.7 million in further commitment appropriations. The corresponding €20707 million in payment appropriations will be found by redeploying monies from one heading to another. The proposal has been submitted to the two arms of the budget authority (the EU Council of Ministers ad the European Parliament). (lc)