Amending budget 2/2010: 2009 surplus

The European Parliament adopted by 652 votes to 18, with 11 abstentions, a resolution approving the Council's position on Draft amending budget (DAB) No 4 of the European Union for the financial year 2010, Section III – Commission.

Parliament noted that this DAB was devoted solely to the budgeting of the 2009 surplus.

It stressed that the actual under-implementation of the 2009 budget was not limited to the surplus presented in DAB No 4/2010 but amounted to more than EUR 5 billion, if amending budget No 10/2009 was also taken into acount. The calculation of 2009 budgetary under-implementation should take account of both DAB No 4/2010 and Amending budget No 10/2009.

The resolution pointed out that the combined effect of the very tight budgetary margins and emerging financial needs was to put at risk existing political priorities, while significant under-spending was reducing at the same time the delivery of EU policies.

Lastly, it warned that the year-end amending budgets reducing the level of payment appropriations, while diminishing accordingly the global contribution of the Member States to the financing of the EU budget, gave a distorted picture of budgetary implementation.