The Council adopted its position on the draft budget
for the financial year 2014.
Following Council’s deliberations, the main
features of this position are as follows:
- Commitment appropriations (c/a): EUR 142 226.93
million
- Payment appropriations (p/a) : EUR 135 004.61
million
Under the Council's position on the DB for 2014,
commitment appropriations decrease by -6.15 % compared to the
2013 budget and payment appropriations increase by +1.35
%.
The total amount of payment appropriations provided
for in the Council's position on the DB for 2014 corresponds to
1.00 % of the EU gross national income (GNI).
A. General points: when
adopting its position, the Council took into account a number of
guidelines contained in its February 2013 conclusions and
which may be summarised as follows:
- to follow an approach leading to a budget complying
with budgetary discipline and sound financial management, as well
as taking duly into account the ongoing economic and budgetary
constraints in Member States;
- to provide adequate funding for the European Union's
various priorities, determining appropriations on the basis of past
and current budget implementation and realistic absorption
capacities;
- to foresee the necessary appropriations enabling the
fully-fledged start of the new programmes in the first year of the
multiannual financial framework 2014-2020;
- to leave adequate margins under the ceilings of the
headings and subheadings of the multiannual financial framework,
with the exception of subheading 1b, in order to be able to cope
with unforeseen situations;
- to keep payment appropriations firmly under
control under all headings and sub-headings of the multiannual
financial framework, adjusting the amounts on the basis of an
analysis of past and current budget implementation and realistic
absorption capacities;
- to limit the increase requested by the institutions
for administrative expenditure in 2014 and to reduce their number
of staff in line with the -5% target over the period 2013-2017
set in the European Council conclusions of 7/8 February 2013, while
taking into account the salary adjustment of 2011 and 2012
(European Parliament excepted, in accordance with the "gentlemen's
agreement").
Statement on payment appropriations: in addition to the guidelines described above, the
Council also approved a statement on payment appropriations calling
on the Commission to submit as early as possible the letter of
amendment for agriculture (including information about the
possible carry-over of assigned revenue),and a letter of
amendment for sub-heading 1b in order to appropriately
calibrate the level of resources in heading 2 in the 2014
budget.
Furthermore, the Council asked the Commission to
submit a draft amending budget if the payment appropriations
entered in the 2014 budget are insufficient to cover expenditure
under:
- sub-heading 1a (Competitiveness for growth and
jobs),
- sub-heading 1b (Economic, social and territorial
cohesion),
- heading 2 and
- heading 4 (Global Europe) of the
multiannual
- financial framework.
It urged the Commission to present as early as
possible updated figures concerning the state of affairs and
estimates regarding payment appropriations under sub-heading 1b
and, if necessary, to present a draft amending budget for this sole
purpose. The Council would then take position on the draft amending
budget as quickly as possible in order to avoid any shortfall in
payment appropriations.
B. Expenditure by main budget headings:
as to expenditure under the different headings
and sub-headings of the multiannual financial framework, the
Council's position is the following:
Heading 1: “Smart and inclusive
growth » (EUR 63.762 billion in commitment
appropriations):
1a: expenditure on
competitiveness for growth and jobs: the amount for this
heading was set at EUR 16.204 billion in commitment appropriations,
an increase of 2.89% compared with the 2013 budget.
Characteristics in regard to subheading 1a
include:
- to establish the level of commitment
appropriations, targeting a total reduction by -EUR 60
million in the appropriations requested in the draft budget for
2014 on a number of specific budget lines related, besides
agencies, to administrative support expenditure under this
sub-heading;
- to set the level of payment appropriations,
reducing the appropriations requested in the draft budget for
2014 by a total amount of -EUR 426.5 million, of which -EUR 154
million in large infrastructure projects, -EUR 120.7 million in the
Common Strategic Framework for Research and Innovation, -EUR 86.9
million in the Connecting Europe Facility, and -EUR 61.3 million in
other programmes;
- these amounts also take into account reductions in
contributions to decentralised agencies by a total amount of -EUR
3.3 million in commitment and payment appropriations under this
sub-heading.
The margin available under sub-heading 1a would be EUR
185.8 million.
1b: economic, social and territorial cohesion
expenditure: the Council has foreseen
an amount of EUR 47.557 billion in commitment appropriations
(a fall of 13.5% compared with the 2013 budget). The other main
characteristics of this subheading are:
- to establish the level of commitment
appropriations, targeting a total reduction by -EUR 3.3
million in the appropriations requested in the draft budget for
2014 on a number of specific budget lines related to
administrative support expenditure under this
sub-heading;
- to set the level of payment appropriations, reducing
the appropriations requested in the draft budget for 2014 by a
total amount of -EUR 202.3 million, in particular in the field
of Investment for growth and jobs (-EUR 114 million) and in
European territorial cooperation (-EUR 85 million).
The margin available under sub-heading 1b would be EUR
25.7 million.
Heading 2: Sustainable growth: natural
resources: the amount for this
heading was fixed at EUR 59.246 billion in commitment
appropriations, a total reduction of 1.07% compared with the 2013
budget.
Expenditure on the European Agricultural Guarantee
Fund (EAGF) and market-related expenditure and direct payments are
set at EUR 43.778 billion (in commitments) by the Council, an
increase of 0.28% compared with 2013.
The characteristics of this budget heading are the
following:
- to establish the level of commitment
appropriations, targeting a total reduction by -EUR 1.6
million in the appropriations requested in the draft budget for
2014 notably in administrative support expenditure for Maritime
affairs and fisheries (-EUR 1 million);
- to set the level of payment appropriations,
reducing the appropriations requested in the draft budget for 2014
by a total amount of -EUR 112.6 million, of which -EUR 54.3
million in the field of Rural development, -EUR 46 million in the
European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, -EUR 1 million in Regional
Fisheries Management Organisations and Sustainable Fisheries
Agreements, and -EUR 10.7 million in Environment and climate
action, on the basis of past, current or expected budget
implementation. These amounts - estimated on the basis of
information currently available - may be reviewed in the light of
the letter of amendment expected in the autumn;
- these amounts also take into account reductions in
contributions to decentralised agencies by a total amount of -EUR
0.59 million in commitment and payment appropriations under this
heading.
The margin available under heading 2 would be EUR 56.9
million.
Heading 3: security and citizenship: the amount for this heading was set at EUR 2.134
billion in commitment appropriations and has been reduced by
9.63% compared with the 2013 budget. The characteristics of this
budget heading are the following:
- to establish the level of commitment appropriations,
targeting a total reduction by -EUR 5.2 million in the
appropriations requested in the draft budget for 2014 on a
number of specific budget lines related, besides agencies, to
administrative support expenditure under this heading;
- to set the level of payment appropriations,
reducing the appropriations requested in the draft budget for 2014
by a total amount of -EUR 10 million on a number of budget
lines on the basis of past and current budget
implementation;
- these amounts also take into account reductions in
contributions to decentralised agencies by a total amount of -EUR
4.5 million in commitment and payment appropriations under this
heading.
The margin available under heading 3 would be EUR 44.8
million.
Heading 4: global Europe: the Council envisages an overall amount of EUR
8.159 billion in commitment appropriations, a reduction of
12.66% compared with 2013. It has thus decided to:
- establish the level of commitment
appropriations, targeting a total reduction by -EUR 17.3
million in the appropriations requested in the draft budget for
2014 on a number of specific budget lines related, besides
agencies, to administrative support expenditure under this
heading;
- set the level of payment appropriations, reducing
the appropriations requested in the draft budget for 2014 by
a total amount of -EUR 156.6 million on the basis of past,
current or expected budget implementation as well as realistic
absorption capacities;
- these amounts also take into account reductions in the
contribution to a decentralised agency by an amount of -EUR 0.23
million in commitment and payment appropriations under this
heading.
The margin available under heading 4 would be EUR
176.5 million.
Heading 5: administrative expenditure:
administrative expenditure is set at EUR
8.441 billion in commitment appropriations (+28% compared with
2013), EUR 6.835 billion of which are administrative expenditures
for the institutions. The budget of each institution is covered by
the Council’s position with the budget variations from one
year to the next. It should, moreover, be noted that the Council
has maintained certain reductions relating to the administrative
expenditure of the European schools
Decentralised agencies: as far as the decentralised agencies are concerned,
the Council has applied an approach similar to that adopted for the
institutions. Therefore, in proportion to the number of staff in
the agencies' establishment plans (self-financed posts excepted), a
reduction corresponding to the amounts relating to the salary
adjustment of 2011 and 2012 was applied in the contribution to all
agencies.