Supplementary and amending budget 1/2002

The European Parliament adopted the report by Mr Carlos COSTA NEVES (EPP-ED, P) and Mrs Kathalijne BUITENWEG (Greens/EFA, NL) concerning the supplementary budget relating to running Parliament this year and its share of the costs of the Convention. The total estimated costs of the Convention for March-December 2002 amount to some EUR 10.5m with some EUR 6.5m provided by the participating Member States and the three institutions also taking part i.e. Council, Commission and Parliament. The balance of some EUR 4 million - the Convention's own budget - is to come from further contributions of EUR 2.6m from the Commission's budget, 1m from Parliament and EUR 400,000 from Council. In approving the funding, MEPs pointed out that the arrangements for financing the Convention do not set a precedent for financing any other EU body and that transparency will apply to ensure that a full set of accounts will be available to the Court of Auditors, responsible for checking on expenditure.�