2003 budget: section III, Commission

PURPOSE : to present the draft general budget of the European Communities for the financial year 2003 as amended and accompanied by proposed modifications. CONTENT : after the meeting with the European Parliament, and on the basis of the preparatory work done by the Permanent Representatives Committee as well as the agreements reached with the European Parliament at the conciliation meeting, the Council reached political agreement at second reading of the draft general budget for 2003 and on letter of amendment No 3 to the preliminary draft budget for 2003. The draft budget adopted for 2003 is based on the need to: - comply with the annual expenditure ceilings set by the financial perspective for 2000-2006; - leave, where possible, adequate margins below the ceilings for the various headings, except for headings 2 and 7; - provide adequate funding for the European Union's various priorities. In establishing the draft budget, account was taken of the assessment of the possibilities for utilising the commitment appropriations. For payment appropriations, growth in the volume of appropriations was controlled by taking into account in particular the capacity for utilisation, the likely rate of payments under outstanding commitments and constraints upon national budgets. On the basis of the above overall approach, the Council reached political agreement on the draft budget for 2003, which provides for an overall increase of 0,02% in commitment appropriations and 1,3% in payment appropriations, as compared with the budget for 2002.�