Brussels, 09/07/2009 (Agence Europe) - The EU Council of ministers' first reading of the preliminary draft budget of the European Union on Friday 10 July will be purely a formality. This is so, firstly because, as is often the case in the procedure, European ministers responsible for the budget are likely to accept, virtually as it stands, the outcome of the preparatory work (see EUROPE 9934), on which there was unanimity; and secondly because consultation will take place with a delegation from the outgoing European Parliament (which, therefore, has no real mandate to discuss the issue). Indeed, no agreement is planned at this stage between the Council and Parliament, the two branches of the budgetary authority. The
Council, which will be chaired by Secretary of State to the Swedish Finance Ministry Hans Lindblad, will begin at 10.00am, consultations with the EP will take place one hour later and a press conference is expected at 1.00pm.
The slightly more controversial issues, then, have been put off until a later date (the first reading in the EP is due in October, and the Council second reading in November). The EP wanted to discuss the choice of annual procedure for setting the 2010 budget. It would like a kind of “transitional” procedure, since the Lisbon Treaty might very well come into force before the end of the 2010 budget adoption procedure. The EP delegation will be led by the outgoing budgets committee's two rapporteurs, László Surján (EPP-ED, Hungary) and Vladimír Manka (PES, Slovakia). Since these two MEPs have been re-elected, they are likely to continue to carry on as rapporteurs on the 2010 budget. At the moment, anyway, the figures in the draft 2010 budget do not take any account either of additional spending resulting from the recovery plan (€2.4 billion in 2010) of new administrative expenditure as a result of the (possible) coming into force of the Lisbon Treaty.
After the consultation with the EPO, the Council will establish the draft budget for 2010 on first reading. Against the current backdrop of economic and financial crisis, the Council is seeking a “sound balance” between targeted reductions in some areas and funding of political priorities, for example, measures to boost growth and jobs. It takes into account the execution rate of the last years and leaves sufficient margins under the various headings of the financial framework in order to cope with unforeseen budgetary needs.
Compared with the preliminary draft general budget for 2010 proposed by the European Commission, the agreement expected to be reached by the Council will reduce: - commitment appropriations by a total of €612.9 million, leaving a margin of €2,373.64 million under the total ceiling of the financial framework; - payment appropriations by a total of €1,794.90 million. The Council is expected to refuse requests for new posts in the EU administration and in decentralised agencies, with the exception of the new agencies planned for 2010 and the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders (FRONTEX)
The draft budget as it stands to be approved by the Council, amounts to €137.944 billion in commitment appropriations and €120.520 billion in payment appropriations. Compared with the 2009 budget these sums represent increases of 3.06% and 3.81% respectively.
Statements. The Community institutions will, nevertheless, try to agree on a number of statements (on payment appropriations, additional needs in external action, recruitment as a result of the 2004 and 2007 enlargements and the property policy of the EU institutions and bodies). In a unilateral statement, Germany will say that the food aid programme for the worst-off people in the European Union must be implemented in line with Community law. Germany points out that, under this programme, there should be no purchases on the market and that implementation of the programme must take account of the case currently going through the Court of First Instance. (L.C./transl.rt)