Brussels, 30/03/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 30 March, the EU Council of Ministers adopted preliminary draft amending budget No. 3 to the general budget for 2009. This act, still to be endorsed by the European Parliament, readjusts the financing of the budget in order to bring it into line with the new decision Own Resources Decision 2007/436/EC, which came into effect on 1 March 2009.
Thus, member states contributions to own resources are changed. Given the retroactive effect of the new Own Resources Decision from 1 January 2007, the adjustments refer to financial years 2007, 2008 and 2009. They are related to: - the new uniform rate of call of the VAT-based own resource; - the gross reduction in the annual Gross National Income (GNI) based contributions for the Netherlands and Sweden; - the revised calculation of the correction mechanism for the United Kingdom; - the impact of the new call rate of the VAT-based own resource on the GNI-based own resource contributions.
The amending budget reduces Germany's contribution to own resources for 2009 from €22.6 billion to €19.6 billion, for example. It also increases the Italian contribution from €14.8 billion to €16.2 billion and the French contribution from €18.1 billion to €19.7 billion. The UK contribution rises from €11.4 billion to €12.5 billion. The Dutch contribution will fall from €6.7 billion to €3.5 billion, and Sweden's from €3.1 billion to €2 billion. (L.C./transl.rt)