Supplementary and amending budget 1/1996

In adopting the report by Mr James ELLES (PPE, UK) and Mr Joaquim MIRANDA (GUE, P), Parliament approved the 1996 supplementary budget, which settled in particular the problem of the appropriations needed to support the beef and veal sector in the face of the consequences of 'mad cow disease'. In particular, Parliament: -earmarked ECU 1.691 m for the beef and veal sector, using the savings (in relation to forecasts) made in other agricultural sectors, -adopted a budget line of ECU 30.9 m for Parliament buildings in Strasbourg and Brussels (other appropriations obviously being necessary in 1997 and the following years), -reinstated the remarks on the appropriations relating to the MEDA, PHARE and TACIS programmes which commit the Commission to provide complete and detailed information on the implementation of these programmes. In addition, Parliament accepted a technical solution to the problem posed by the British Opt-out from the Social Protocol of the TEU, allowing various actions (including the training of workers' and employers' representatives and the promotion of trans-national meetings between their representatives) to be financed without the United Kingdom having to share in the expenditure. On a proposal from the Commission, Parliament introduced a chapter on the revenue side to permit the financing of specific social policy measures. At the same time, Parliament called on the budgetary authority, during the 1997 budgetary procedure, to pronounce on the desirability of strengthening the precautionary assessment of the humanitarian assistance programmes and the ex-post facto controls on the operations carried out in this context. It also called on the Commission to put forward a proposal for the transfer of appropriations with a view to supporting the work of the International War Crimes Tribunal at The Hague on the former Yugoslavia.�