Supplementary and amending budget 1/2000: section III, Commission

PURPOSE : to present the Preliminary Draft Amending Budget No 1/2000 (Section III-Commission). CONTENT : the main objective of this first PDAB for the 2000 financial year is to account for the balance of the 1999 financial year in accordance with Article 32 of the Financial Regulation. Since 1998, the revision of own resources (in particular those based on VAT and GNP) as well as the correction of the budgetary imbalance in favour of the UK are also included in the first PDSAB. It is, however, proposed to also include in this PDAB a series of changes in the nomenclature through the creation of various budgetary lines, or additional details to add to the budgetary remarks. These changes do not affect the amounts of EU budget expenditure. More specifically, on the revenue side, the 1999 balance comes to 3 209 billion euros. Following the establishment of the correction entered in the 2000 budget, the Commission has not been in a position to determine whether significant divergences between the initial and the revised estimate have been registered in the basic data which could justify an update of the 1999 correction. Accordingly, it it proposed, at this stage, not to carry out a revision of the 1999 UK correction which remains at 3 635 982 606 euros. On the expenditure side, the Commission has introduced a series of technical modifications in several budgetary headings. The most important concerns the sub-heading 1b (rural development and accompanying measures), in which the Commission proposes the creation of a new chapter B1-41 (and the subsequent articles) to allow separate budgeting of 'the clearance of pervious years' accounts and the reduction/ suspension of advances' for expenditure related to this sub-heading. Amounts recovered/suspended on behalf of sub-heading 1a will continue to be budgeted under the current chapter B1-37. As regards new expenditures, which are those characterised by a 'p.m.' in the budget or a transfer from one budget line to another, the following should be noted: - B5-312: 'Subsidy for the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products': this relates to the facilitation of the implementation of the new regulation on orphan drugs adopted by the Council in December 1999. The Commission proposes to make a transfer of 1 million euros from the line B5-313 'Normalisation' to the B5-312 line in addition to the normal subsidy to the Medicines Agency, so as to enable it to fulfil its new tasks defined on the Orphan Drugs Regulation. - B7-547: 'Interim civilian administrations' to support the UN interim civilian administration in Kosovo (UNMIK) and the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina (OHR). The Commission has proposed a Council Regulation to establish a first pillar legal basis for the financing of the UNMIK and OHR which is likely to be adopted in May. it is proposed that the necessary budget line be created with a token entry (B7-547: 'Interim civilian administrations') in this Amending Budget with a reference to the forthcoming legal basis in the remarks. - B7-671: creation of a Rapid Reaction Facility. As alsoproposed in the 2001 PDB, it is proposed to create in the 2000 budget a new article B7-671 'Rapid Reaction Facility' accompanied by an article B7-671A. Pending the adoption of a legal basis that the Commission will shortly be proposing, only a token entry is put on the lines.�