2002 budget: section III, Commission

This document details the second reading of the 2002 budget by the Council concerning the budget for the Commission (Section - III of the budget). In the perspective of the second reading of the draft 2002 budget, the Council met with a delegation from the European Parliament. Following the conciliation meeting, the Parliament, the Council and the Commission agreed on the following elements in the framework of an overall agreement on the 2002 budget: the expenditure retained by the Council following its second reading (including the amending letter no 2) rises overall to: 1) commitment appropriations (c/a) EUR 98 448 million; 2) payment appropriations (p/a) EUR 94 827 million. These amounts represent, in comparison with the 2001 budget, an increase of 1.5% in commitment appropriations and 1.1% in payment appropriations representing 1.03% of Community GNP. The increase in payment appropriations resulting from the second reading by the Council, is included in the context of the agreement with the European Parliament. Main elements of the agreement: 1) concerning agriculture: the delegations accepted the amending letter no 2 as well as four amended proposals proposed by the European Parliament. In addition, they adopted a joint declaration on the transportation of animals; 2) concerning the restructuring of the Spanish and Portuguese fishing fleets, an amount of EUR 170 million in commitment appropriations (c/a) has been provided under Heading 2 (Structural Funds). It was also agreed to use the flexibility instrument for this amount. The three institutions also agreed on a joint declaration which provides for the allocation of EUR 27 million in c/a in the 2003 budget, which will bring the envelope of available funds for the restructuring of the Spanish and Portuguese fishing fleet to EUR 197 million. With regard to the regions bordering candidate countries, EUR 30 million in c/a has been allocated under Heading 2. It is also provided that the flexibility instrument be used for this amount; 3) it is also agreed to allocate EUR 20 million for the c/a under Heading 3 (internal policy), in particular in the framework of the pilot-project "Effects of enlargement on regions bordering candidate countries. Lastly, the three institutions agreed another joint declaration on the allocation of EUR 15 million in c/a in the 2003 budget for expenditure in this field; 4) as for external actions, all of the strands concerning the international fishing agreements included in the amending letter no 2 were accepted in one reading. Still within the field of external actions and in order to provide financing for the consequences of the events of 11 September in Afghanistan and in the neighbouring countries, an agreement was reached on the following elements: - the allocation of EUR 488 million for Asia, of which an addition EUR 60 million for Afghanistan; - to keep a minimum margin of EUR 70 million under Heading 4, to be used for potential needs in Afghanistan and in the neighbouring countries; - a minimum of EUR 35 million in the emergency aid reserve to be potentially used in Afghanistan and its neighbouring countries. With regard to administrative expenditure, the three institutions agreed on holding an informal trialogue at the beginning of 2002on the report of the General-Secretaries on the multiannual developments of the "administrative expenditure" heading (Heading 5) and the additional economies potentially associated with interinstitutional co-operation. Moreover, an other agreement was also decided upon concerning a ceiling of 2% to increase payment appropriations (p/a) in comparison to 2001. Finally, with regard to existing amounts, it was agreed to add a provisional amount of EUR 1.2 billion to the amending letter no 2. It should be noted that the Spanish delegation included a unilateral declaration in the minutes for the meeting on the examination procedure of the reforming of the financial regulation.�