The Council
adopted a series of conclusions on the budget guidelines for 2011
which will be forwarded to the European Parliament, the European Commission
and the other institutions.
The Council,
firstly, recalls that the 2011 budgetary procedure will play a crucial role
in the pursuit and development of the European Union's objectives and
priorities and takes place in a very specific context due to two main
factors:
- the
consequences of the economic crisis will still impact on 2011: considering that most of the Member States find themselves
in an excessive deficit procedure, the budget for 2011 will more than
ever have to take into account economic and budgetary constraints at
national level. The implementation of agreed EU programmes and actions,
including those aiming at tackling the effects of the crisis, should
continue. Therefore, reallocations allowing the best use of available
resources should be encouraged;
- implementation
of the Lisbon Treaty: the 2011 budgetary
procedure is the first procedure under the Lisbon Treaty. With this in
mind, the Council underlines the importance of a good collaboration
between the two arms of the budgetary authority and with the Commission.
The need for strong cooperation is reinforced in a situation where both
arms of the budgetary authority will only have a single reading of the
draft budget (DB), and where an agreement has to be reached during the
conciliation procedure on all expenditure. The two arms of the budgetary
authority should therefore coordinate their positions as early as
possible during the procedure.
Key
elements of the budget for 2011: the budget for
2011 should remain strictly within the limits fixed in the current 2007-2013
financial framework and sufficient margins should be left under all the
ceilings of various headings and sub-headings of the financial framework,
with the exception of sub-heading 1b, for the purpose of sound financial
management and notably to cater for unforeseen circumstances. Council
underlines the need for a realistic budgeting. Commitment and payment
appropriations should be set so as to reflect real and well defined needs.
The Council stresses the great importance of keeping payment
appropriations firmly under control, taking into account the payment
profile included in the financial framework. It also notes with great concern
the volume of outstanding commitments and considers that the relation
between the level of commitment and payment appropriations must be carefully
weighed against the absorption capacity. It calls on all actors involved to
continue to do their utmost to avoid overestimation in order to limit undue
pressure on national budgets. Lastly, the Council recalls the importance of
reallocation, as a primary tool for budgetary flexibility, in order to
allow the budgetary authority to adapt the appropriations in a balanced and
realistic way.
The Council
identifies the following elements as crucial in preparing the budget for
2011:
- competitiveness
for growth and employment: the Council
underlines the importance of measures contributing to economic recovery,
notably in the field of research and innovation. Special attention
should be given to the timely implementation of agreed measures in the
context of the European Economic Recovery Plan;
- cohesion
for growth and employment: the Council
considers that payments from Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund
should be at cruising speed in 2010 and 2011. It urges the Commission and
Member States to maintain this momentum in order to avoid recurrent
under-implementation in this area. All actors involved should continue
their efforts in order to establish a realistic and accurate level of
payments for structural measures, and pursue an efficient and effective
implementation of the 2007-2013 programmes;
- CAP
expenditure: the Commission is invited to
present realistic and clearly defined forecasts already in its DB and
then in its ad hoc letter of amendment on agriculture, taking
into account past implementation and foreseeable market prices evolution
at European and international level. The ad hoc letter of
amendment on agriculture should be presented in due time before the
conciliation meeting;
- citizenship,
freedom, security and justice: the Council
recalls the importance of allocating sufficient resources to EU policies
such as immigration;
- external
actions: taking into account the present and
forthcoming challenges, both at the economic level and in terms of
international stability, the Council firmly believes that the Union
should have a sufficient margin under the ceiling of heading 4 in order
to enable it to provide for unexpected needs and crises in the most
effective, flexible and rapid way. It recalls the importance of the
setting up of the European External Action Service (EEAS), which
should be guided by the principle of cost-efficiency aiming towards
budget neutrality;
- administrative
expenditure: the Council recalls the common
objective of increasing administrative efficiency along the same line
adopted by Member States to optimise the use of limited resources. It
intends to continue to monitor and to improve EU institutions'
effectiveness with a view to increasing administrative efficiency and
stresses the crucial importance of redeployment of resources and
reprioritisation. This is even more important in a situation where the
Lisbon Treaty assigns new tasks to institutions. It expects all the
institutions to provide in advance all the necessary information for a
clear, comprehensive, and consolidated picture of all administrative
expenditure, including administrative expenditure financed under other
headings and sub-headings of the multiannual financial framework, thus
allowing the budgetary authority to evaluate the situation and take
well-founded decisions on the allocation and use of resources. Due
attention should be given to the comprehensiveness and comparability
over time and between institutions of information provided.
It also recalls the content of the joint statement on the building
policy of EU Institutions and bodies agreed during the 2010 budgetary
procedure and expects all institutions and bodies to comply with its content
and awaits the publication of the study of the budgetary implications of
pension costs covering the next 30 years.
As far as the Union's decentralised agencies are concerned,
the Council reiterates the importance of keeping their funding under firm
control. It expects the Commission to continue providing a comprehensive
picture concerning decentralised agencies, including their building policy,
in due time for the draft budget for 2011.