Supplementary and amending budget 1/2002

The committee adopted the report by Carlos COSTA NEVES (EPP-ED, P) and Kathalijne BUITENWEG (Greens/EFA, NL) accepting, without amendment, the Council's Draft Supplementary and Amending Budget No. 1/2002 of the European Union for 2002 providing for the financing of the Convention on the Future of Europe. It also approved the Interinstitutional Agreement (IIA) organising the financial contribution of the three institutions to the Fund that would be set up for this purpose. The committee stressed that, under the IIA, Parliament's agreement was needed for any significant budgetary acts such as the establishment of the budget, transfers and the discharge and that the Court of Auditors needed to be given all necessary information to assist Parliament in the exercise of its discharge duties. It also highlighted the exceptional, one-off nature of this particular agreement and insisted that the proper budgetary procedures be followed if the Convention should continue beyond the schedule initially allowed. The report also stressed that the agreement should not constitute a precedent for financing any body or organisation which might be set up in future and be funded from the EU budget.�