PURPOSE: to present the draft general
budget of the European Union for the financial year 2012.
CONTENT: the Commission adopted the draft
general budget 2012, the second of the "Lisbon era." It is also the
fifth and penultimate budget under the Financial Framework. Sustaining
investments and economic growth will remain at the heart of EU activity in
2012, building on a more positive economic outlook. The EU, while
pursuing its support to investment and to actions in favour of growth and employment
in 2012, will act in a new frame established for economic recovery and
economic governance (Europe 2020 and the European semester).
This will be done while major challenges
remain to be solved for both the Union and the Member States. In the context
of the recovery gaining ground, the EU budget will have an important role to
play as a leverage tool to Member States’ recovery policies, which will
impact on final beneficiaries.
General budget details: the Draft Budget for 2012 is therefore proposed at the level of EUR
147 435.6 million in commitment appropriations, corresponding to 1.12%
of GNI, that is EUR 5 324.3 million more than in 2011 (+ 3.7%). This
leaves a combined total margin of EUR 1 603.3 million under the various
ceilings of the MAFF.
For payment appropriations, the
total amounts to EUR 132 738.6 million, corresponding to 1.01% of GNI.
This is an increase of EUR 6 191.9 million compared to payment
appropriations in the 2011 budget (+ 4.9%), and leaves a margin of EUR 8 815.4
million under the ceiling of the MAFF.
Priorities for the 2012 draft budget: the key objective should again be to fully support the European
economy and EU citizens by exploring the leverage effect of the EU budget to
reinforce growth and employment opportunities, while sustaining the actions
implemented within Member States’ budgets.
The 2012 Draft Budget will also address
the objective of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, as identified by
the Europe 2020 strategy.
The following priorities have been
established for the 2012 Draft Budget:
- investing for growth within fiscal
consolidation: the EU Budget is also a tool
to finance investments, particularly needed during a period of fiscal
consolidation in the Member states. Within an overall level of
commitments set at EUR 147.4 billion, 46.1% is dedicated to
sustainable growth. The Commission is fully aware of the ongoing
fiscal consolidation efforts in Member States and the related
difficulties. The proposed increase in the overall level of payment
appropriations (+ 4.9%) represents a valuable contribution to
European economic recovery and growth, and is a necessary consequence of
the Union’s contractual obligation to honour the growing level of
outstanding commitments of current and previous years, now that all
major programmes are running at cruising speed.
- reinforcing the budgetary strand of
the Europe 2020 strategy: expenditure
related to competitiveness for growth and employment, with EUR 15.2
billion in commitment appropriations, and Cohesion for growth and
employment, with EUR 52.7 billion in commitment appropriations, will
support the EU economy and contribute to shaping the conditions for
sustainable growth, both in the short and longer term. A knowledge and
innovation based economy clearly benefits from investing in research and
development, innovation, infrastructure and human capital, with
particular attention to our younger generations, in line with the
priority areas identified by the Europe 2020 strategy. Overall, the
proposed commitment appropriations directly linked to the objectives of the
Europe 2020 strategy in 2012 increase by 5.1% to EUR 62.6
billion. Accordingly, the 2012 Draft Budget foresees significant
increases in payment appropriations for expenditure at the core of the
Europe 2020 strategy, delivering real implementation on the ground. In
particular, increased payment levels for the Research Framework
Programmes (+ 13.3% to EUR 7.6 billion) and for the structural and
cohesion funds (+ 8.4% to EUR 45.1 billion) aim at maximising the EU
budget contribution to economic growth, and to support economic, social and
territorial cohesion in a Union of 27 Member States with significant
disparities in levels of development and standards of living. Reinforced
payment levels for research and cohesion are combined in the 2012 Draft
Budget with lower increases for market related expenditure and direct
aids under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
- strengthening Lisbon Treaty priority
areas: when preparing the 2012 Draft Budget,
the Commission has thoroughly assessed the needs for priority areas
stemming from the Union’s new competences under the Lisbon Treaty, such
as competitiveness and innovation (+ 7.5% in commitment appropriations),
space (+ 13.2%), climate actions (+ 6.1%) and the Common
Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP, + 11.0%). The substantial
increase in appropriations foreseen for the area of Freedom, Security
and Justice (heading 3a, + 17.7% in commitment appropriations and + 6.8%
in payment appropriations), and in particular for Solidarity and
management of migration flows, reflects the importance attached to the
implementation of the ‘Stockholm programme’ in a secure Union. The
Union’s ambitions in its external actions are translated in the Draft
Budget into a growing level of commitment appropriations for the EU as a
global player (+ 2.9 %).
MAIN BUDGETARY CHARACTERISTICS HEADING
BY HEADING: the presentation is structured
according to the budget headings of the 2007-2013 Financial Framework:
Heading 1: Sustainable growth and
employment: this heading covers expenses
related to competitiveness and employment as well as cohesion:
- For Competitiveness for Growth and
Employment (heading 1a): this heading
includes many of the flagship initiatives set out in the Europe 2020
strategy including ‘innovation Union’, ‘youth on the move’, ‘resource
efficiency Europe’, ‘new skills and jobs’ and ‘industrial policy for the
globalisation era’. The main programmes under this heading are the 7th
Framework Programme for research and technological development (FP7),
the Lifelong Learning Programme, the Competitiveness and Innovation
Programme (CIP), the Trans-European Networks (TENs), GALILEO/EGNOS,
GMES, Marco Polo II, and the PROGRESS Programme. Commitment
appropriations are set at EUR 15 223.6 million, which is an
increase of 12.6% compared to the 2011 budget. This leaves a margin of
EUR 129.4 million. Payment appropriations increase by 8.1% to EUR 12 566.1
million. This increase is in part due to additional payment needs to
cover pre-financing payments for the growing level of commitment
appropriations for research, and in part to cover intermediate and final
payments on outstanding commitments.
- For Cohesion for Growth and
Employment (heading 1b): this heading covers
the Structural Funds, i.e. the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)
and the European Social Fund (ESF), as well as the Cohesion Fund (CF). Commitment
appropriations increase by 3.4% to EUR 52 738.9 million, leaving a
margin of EUR 22.1 million. Payment appropriations increase by 8.4 %, to
EUR 45 134.8 million. The substantial increase in the level of
payments shows the momentum of the 2007-2013 Cohesion policy on the
ground, thus contributing to investments, economic recovery and job
creation in the EU. With the programmes up and running, further
significant increases are expected in the payment needs for 2013.
Heading 2: Preservation and
management of natural resources: commitment
appropriations amount to EUR 60 158.4 million. This level of funding
represents an increase of 2.6% compared to 2011 and leaves a margin of EUR
651.6 million under the ceiling. Payment appropriations amount to EUR 57 948.4
million, which is an increase of 2.8% compared to 2011. Within this heading
the amount foreseen for market related expenditure and direct aids reaches EUR
44 179.7 million in commitment appropriations, and EUR 44 102.8
million in payment appropriations.
Heading 3: Citizenship, freedom,
security, justice: this heading is split into
two sub-headings:
- For Freedom, Security and Justice
(heading 3a): this sees an important
increase in commitment appropriations of 17.7%, rising to EUR
1 340.4 million, and leaving a margin of EUR 65.6 million. Payment
appropriations also increase substantially, by 6.8% to EUR 868.3
million.
- For Citizenship (heading 3b): commitment appropriations decrease by 0.1% to EUR 683.5
million, leaving a margin of EUR 15.5 million. Payment appropriations
for this heading decrease by 0.3% to EUR 645.7 million. If the EU
Solidarity Fund (EUR 196.9 million and EUR 18.4 million for commitment
and payment appropriations respectively in 2011) is included in this
comparison, commitment and payment appropriations decrease by 22.4 % and
3.0% respectively. The annual ceiling for this heading, which supports
various actions close to European citizens, remains broadly stable in
the current financial framework.
Heading 4, the EU as a Global
Player: this heading sees an increase in
commitment appropriations of 2.9 % to EUR 9 009.3 million, with an
increased margin of EUR 246.7 million available under the ceiling. After the
review of the European Neighbourhood Policy foreseen for May 2011, the
Commission will present an Amending Letter in order to reflect the
necessary budgetary adjustments for 2012. Payment appropriations on the other
hand slightly increase by 0.8% to EUR 7 293.7 million.
Heading 5: Administration: commitment and payment appropriations for Administrative
expenditure (heading 5) for all Institutions combined increase by 1.3 %, with
commitments set at EUR 8 281.5 million and payments at EUR 8 281.6
million. This leaves a margin of EUR 472.5 million. The Commission has made
particular efforts to freeze its own administrative expenditure by reducing
the types of expenditure that are under direct control of the Commission,
such as expenditure linked to buildings, IT, meetings, studies, etc. This has
led to a ‘nominal freeze’ in the Commission’s administrative budget, when excluding
pensions and European schools, i.e. a reduction by 1.8 % in real terms
according to the latest inflation forecast (November 2010) of 1.8 % in 2012.
This stabilisation of administrative expenditure in nominal terms also
results from the fact that the Commission does not request any additional
posts, for the third year in a row. The Commission plans to continue to meet
its priorities, including those resulting from the entry into force of the
Lisbon Treaty, by an important redeployment effort. The Commission’s strict
approach to administration is to a large degree followed by most of the
other Institutions, leading to an overall
increase of administrative appropriations for the other Institutions of 1.3%
By way of conclusion, the Commission notes that the proposed Draft Budget
represents a responsible and coherent budgetary proposal which takes into
account the requirements expressed by both arms of the Budgetary Authority
and pays due attention to the current circumstances. It provides both the
opportunity for sustaining growth and jobs and utilises, based on thorough
and deep assessment of performance, the opportunity for the EU to target the
actions that should bring the most benefits to its citizens and those in need
in our neighbourhood. It provides a credible proposal for the discussions and
cooperation throughout the budget procedure for a smooth and timely adoption
of the 2012 budget.