The Council
established the draft budget for 2008. It used the preliminary draft budget
of the European Communities for 2008, submitted by the Commission, as the
basis for establishing the draft budget.
In keeping with
the Interinstitutional Agreement of 17 May 2006 between the European
Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline and
budgetary management, a conciliation meeting between the Council and a
delegation from the European Parliament, with the participation of the
Commission, was held on 13 July 2007, prior to the discussions in the
Council.
As a result of
the Council’s discussions, the aggregate expenditure of the draft budget
amounts to :
- Appropriations
for commitments: EUR 128 401.21 million
(including non-compulsory expenditure of EUR 84 909.92 million);
- Appropriations
for payments: EUR 119 410.25 million
(including non-compulsory expenditure of EUR 75 914.73 million).
Under the
draft budget for 2008 established by the Council, commitment appropriations
increase by 1.44% compared to the 2007 budget and payment appropriations by
3.39%. The rate of increase in non-compulsory expenditure (NCE) for the draft
budget for 2008 is 3.58% in commitments and 6.91% in payments. The total
payment appropriations provided for in the draft budget for 2008 correspond
to 0.95% of Community GNI.
In
establishing the draft budget for 2008, the Council followed a number of
guidelines:
A.
Generally
- the draft
budget for 2008, resulting from the first reading in the Council: i)
shows due regard to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 17 May 2007; ii)
takes into account the Council's conclusions on the budget guidelines
for 2008;
- particular
care was taken to: i) apply budgetary discipline to all parts of the budget;
ii) provide adequate funding for the European Union's various
priorities, taking into account absorption capacities and past
implementation rate; iii) ensure controlled growth of payment
appropriations in comparison with 2007, taking into account absorption
capacities and past implementation rate; iv) leave adequate margins
below the ceilings for the Headings of the Financial Framework, except
for sub-Heading 1b, in order to cope with unforeseen situations.
The
establishment of the draft budget for 2008 was, moreover, guided by the
following principles:
- applying the
key principle of assessing the well-defined and real needs to be
financed in 2008 based on the detailed analysis of the needs in all
policy areas, in particular by an in-depth analysis of a set of activity
statements;
- approach
regarding administrative expenditure based on both horizontal criteria,
such as efficiency gains, and on each institution's own specificities,
in particular in terms of the granting of new posts for enlargement;
- ensuring
limited and controlled growth of appropriations for decentralised
agencies by applying different uniform criteria linked to their state of
development:
- "settled
agencies": increase in comparison with the 2007 budget limited to
2% and acceptance of 25% of the new posts requested;
- "growing
agencies": 50% of the increase requested in comparison with the
2007 budget and acceptance of 50% of the new posts requested;
- "new
agencies": 75% of the increase requested in comparison with the
2007 budget and acceptance of 75% of the new posts requested;
- examination
in the autumn, as provided for in the Interinstitutional
Agreement, of a Letter of Amendment concerning agricultural expenditure
and International Fisheries Agreements, in order to take account of the
updated estimates of requirements, without ruling out a limited
reduction in appropriations in these fields.
Other issues
were covered in a general manner: the Council retained the Preparatory Actions
and Pilot Projects proposed by the Commission; a set of activity statements
covering a large range of political areas was specifically examined in depth
by delegations in close contact with the Commission representatives. It was
noted that globally the quality of the activity statements was improved and
that their relevance for the budgetary procedure was enhanced. In general,
each activity statement provided a clear picture of the justification of the
activity and of its added value, sufficient to allow their use as a budgetary
decision making tool.
B.
Expenditure by heading of the financial framework: as regards expenditure under the different Headings of the
Financial Framework the Council decided to:
Heading 1:
Sustainable growth
1.a)
competitiveness for growth and employment expenditure: the amount for this heading is set at EUR 9.504 billion
which represents a decrease of EUR 266.4 million compared to the Commission’s
PDB. This heading is characterised by the following elements:
- to limit the
increase of commitment appropriations requested in the PDB by an
across-the-board reduction of EUR 250 million on all budget lines of
this sub-Heading (except budget lines related to Preparatory Actions,
Pilot Projects, the Accession Treaty, in particular decommissioning of
nuclear installations, and Agencies, budget lines below EUR 1 million
and some specific lines, in particular relating to Galileo, EIT and the
International Fund for Ireland) in order to take into account the trend
of the implementation of the new programmes;
- to transfer
the commitment appropriations for Galileo into the reserve, pending a
decision on this issue;
- to limit the
increase in appropriations in comparison to 2007 for subsidies for
decentralised agencies (-EUR 16.42 million) and to accept a total of 126
new temporary posts as follows: European Medicines Agency: 17 temporary
posts; Chemicals Legislation and European Chemicals Agency: 90 temporary
posts; Gender Equality Institute: 4 temporary posts; European Foundation
for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions: 2 temporary posts;
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work: 1 temporary post;
European Maritime Safety Agency: 6 temporary posts; European Railway
Agency for Safety and Interoperability: 3 temporary posts; Galileo
Supervisory Authority: 2 temporary posts; European Centre for the
Development of Vocational Training: 1 temporary post;
- to set the
level of payment appropriations by reducing the amounts requested in the
PDB by a similar across-the board reduction as for the commitment
appropriations on the relevant budget lines by a total amount of EUR 532
million.
Therefore, the
global level of appropriations under sub-Heading 1a remains very important
with an increase of 7.2% in commitments and 27.2% in payments in comparison
to the 2007
budget, the
increase retained for Research being highly significant with an increase of
7.7% in commitments and 45.5% in payments.
In parallel,
the Council asks the Commission to submit an amending budget if the
appropriations entered in the 2008 budget are insufficient.
The margin
available under sub-Heading 1a would be EUR 342.99 million.
1.b)
Cohesion for growth and employment expenditure:
the Council accepts the PDB as regards commitment appropriations (EUR
46.878 billion). It also set the level of payment appropriations by
reducing the amounts requested in the PDB by a total amount of EUR 498
million on the budget lines related to the completion of the 2000-2006
programmes (-EUR 298.8 million) and the 2007-2013 programmes (-EUR 199.2
million), taking into account the
current trend
of completion or implementation of these programmes. Therefore, by doing
that, the global level of payment appropriations remains very significant
with an increase of 6.2 in comparison with the 2007 budget. The Council asks
the Commission to submit an amending budget if the appropriations entered in
the 2008 budget are insufficient.
The margin
available under sub-Heading 1b would be EUR 11.06 million.
Heading 2:
Expenditure for preservation and management of natural resources: the amount under this heading is set at EUR 55.723 billion,
that is EUR 553 million less than the PDB. The Council aims:
- to retain a
specific reduction in commitment and payment appropriations requested in
the PDB by a total amount of EUR 200 million on the budget line related
to clearance of accounts;
- to retain a
limited reduction in commitment and payment appropriations requested in
the PDB by an amount of EUR 350 million by an across-the-board reduction
on all budget lines of Chapter 05 02 (Interventions in agricultural
markets) except budget lines related to food programmes, free
distribution of fruit and vegetables and school milk. These reductions
are globally close to the figures resulting from the final past
implementation. They are in line with the overall approach of ensuring a
controlled growth in payment appropriations , in which it is proposed to
include compulsory expenditure (Heading 2) and non-compulsory
expenditure (sub-Headings 1a and 1b);
- to limit the
increase in appropriations in comparison to 2007 for subsidies for
decentralised agencies (-EUR 3.15 million in commitments and payments)
and to accept a total of 8 new temporary posts as follows: European
Environment Agency: 2 temporary posts; Community Fisheries Control Agency:
6 temporary posts.
The margin
available under Heading 2 would be EUR 3 077.32 million.
Heading 3:
Citizenship, freedom, security and justice: this
heading amounts to EUR 1.27 billion in commitments (EUR 19 million
less than the 2008 PDB) which is split into 2 headings:
3.a)
Freedom, security and justice: the Council
proposes to:
- to limit the
increase in commitment appropriations requested in the PDB for the
Prince programme by a reduction of EUR 1 million;
- to limit the
increase in appropriations in comparison to 2007 for subsidies for
decentralised agencies (-EUR 3.30 million) and to accept a total of 24
new temporary posts as follows: European Agency for the Management of
Operational Cooperation at the External Border (Frontex): 15 temporary
posts; European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights: 2 temporary posts;
Eurojust: 7 temporary posts);
- to set the
level of payment appropriations by reducing slightly the amounts
requested in the PDB on the relevant budget lines by a total amount of
EUR 15 million, in line with absorption capacities and past
implementation rate.
The margin
available under sub-Heading 3a would be EUR 60.27 million.
3.b)
Citizenship: under this heading, the Council has
provided:
- to retain a
reduction in commitment appropriations requested in the PDB under
Chapter 16 02 (Communication and the media) and Chapter 16 03
("Going local" communication) by a total amount of EUR 5
million;
- to limit the
increase in appropriations in comparison to 2007 for subsidies for
decentralised agencies (-EUR 9.55 million) and to accept a total of 38
new temporary posts as follows: European Centre For Disease Prevention
and Control: 20 temporary posts; European Food Safety Authority: 18
temporary posts;
- to set the
level of payment appropriations by reducing slightly the amounts
requested in the PDB on the relevant budget lines by a total amount of
EUR 35 million, in line with absorption capacities and past
implementation rate.
The margin available
under sub-Heading 3b would be EUR 31.06 million.
Heading 4:
expenditure relating to the EU as a global partner: the Council foresees an overall amount of EUR 7.129 billion
in commitments (an increase of EUR 217 million compared to the 2008 PDB). It
decided:
- to retain an
increase in commitment appropriations requested in the PDB by a total
amount of EUR 260 million regarding Palestine (+EUR 80 million) and
Kosovo (+EUR 180 million), bearing in mind their political importance.
These amounts are entered in the reserve;
- to accept as
a minimum precaution the CFSP budget as proposed in the Preliminary
Draft Budget which is fully in line with the amount foreseen in the IIA
of 17 May 2006. However, depending on the evolution of the international
situation, the amount retained at this stage for the CFSP budget might
not well be sufficient;
- to transfer
into the reserve part of the commitment appropriations regarding
international agreements and membership of international in the field of
public health and tobacco control, pending a decision on this issue;
- to retain
specific reductions in commitment appropriations requested in the PDB
taking into account absorption capacities and past implementation rate,
geographical programmes being excluded: by a total amount of EUR 18.50
million regarding the Instruments for pre-accession of which IPARD (-EUR
8.50 million) and IPA (-EUR 10 million); - by a total amount of EUR
10.50 million regarding the evaluation of results (-EUR 6 million), the
coordination and promotion of awareness (-EUR 1.50 million) and the
Prince programme (-EUR 3 million); by an amount of EUR 13.40 million
regarding the regional and horizontal programmes;
- to set the
level of payment appropriations by reducing the amounts requested in the
PDB on the relevant budget lines by an amount of EUR 125 million in line
with absorption capacities and past implementation rate and by an amount
of EUR 239.22 million regarding the Emergency Aid Reserve.
The margin
available under Heading 4 would be EUR 112.20 million.
Heading 5:
Administration: the draft budget intends to set
an appropriate level for the administrative budget of each institution taking
into account their own specificities and their
real and
justified needs. The Council also decided to accept new posts requested in
relation to the 2004 and 2007 enlargement. In this context, the Council
reiterated its willingness to monitor closely the ongoing recruitment
process. In this context, a joint statement on recruitment in relation with
the 2004 and 2007 enlargement was also agreed. It agreed to accept only a few
new posts requested by the institutions for new tasks on the basis of
justified needs and to accept conversions, transformations and upgradings
related to career development under the Staff Regulations.
Regarding
executive agencies, the Council underlined that their setting-up or their
extension should really entail savings and should not contribute to an
overall increase of the Commission's administration. In this context, a
reduction of EUR 2.98 million is proposed in 2008 corresponding to the
salaries of 37 freed temporary posts in relation to executive agencies that
should have been frozen instead of being redeployed. This proposal is based
on the principle that all posts that are or will be freed within the
Commission as a result of tasks transferred to an executive agency should not
constitute an additional administrative burden. This means that in addition
to the freezing of all Commission posts transferred to the executive agency,
all freed posts should be frozen and not give rise to a double financing.
As regards the
creation and extension of executive agencies a joint statement on executive
agencies was also agreed. The Council made also a thorough examination of the
issue related to assigned revenues. It considers that it is important to
improve the transparency and the sound financial management in this field, in
particular in decentralised agencies.
The margin
available under Heading 5 would be EUR 266.76 million.
Heading 6:
Compensation: the Council has decided to accept
the PDB for this heading (EUR 206.636 million) and set the margin
available under this Heading at EUR 0.35 million.
Heading 7:
revenue: the Council decided to accept the PDB subject to the technical
adjustments arising from the changes made to expenditure and staff in the
draft budget for 2008.