Amending budget 2/2005: adjustment by section of the administrative appropriations resulting from the annual adaptations of the salaries and pensions

On 30 March 2005 the Commission forwarded to the Council Preliminary Draft Amending Budget (PDAB) No. 2 for the financial year 2005 concerning all sections. The aim of the Commission proposal is to:

- Expenditure:

- adjust for each institution the appropriations required for remunerations and pensions following the decisions taken in December 2004 in connection with the adaptation of salaries and pensions, as well as certain other adjustments;

- concerning the Commission's budget, this PDAB also includes the request to modify the budget remark of item 22 01 04 03 by raising the amount of the ceiling for staff at headquarters from EUR 500 000 to EUR 850 000. The overall credit of the line is unchanged;

- as regards the Court of Auditors' budget, this PDAB also includes the request for an adjustment to its 2005 Establishment Plan, without any demand for additional appropriations;

- concerning the European Data-protection Supervisor's budget, this PDAB also includes the request for the creation of a new item B-1176 "Other benefits and work to be entrusted to the outside", with the indication "token entry" in the part reserved for the appropriations, and the transformation of three new temporary posts (2 A and 1 B) in permanent posts.

- Revenue:

- adjust the respective revenue items on the basis of the decisions taken regarding the appropriations required for remunerations and pensions;

- as regards the Publications Office's budget, this PDAB also includes an increase of EUR 255 022 under Article 4 1 0 "Staff contributions to the pension scheme" due to harmonising the method of calculating the revenue with that used by the Commission;

concerning the European Economic and Social Committee's budget, this PDAB also includes an additional decrease of EUR 2 949 944 under Article 4 0 4 "Proceeds of special levy from the salaries of members of the institutions, officials and other servants in active employment" due to an error of the method of calculating the revenue.

On 30 May 2005 the Council then established Draft Amending Budget 2/2005. The Council stressed the fact that, according to the statement agreed at the conciliation meeting of 25 November 2004, the Draft Amending Budget No. 2 must contain "exclusively the reductions of appropriations for administrative expenditure of the institutions resulting from the annual adaptation of the salaries and pensions". Therefore, the Council was only able to accept:

- the elements related to the decrease of the annual adaptation of the salary and pensions as proposed , apart for the Commission and the Committee of the Regions;

- the changes proposed by the Court of Auditors and the European Data-protection Supervisor concerning their Establishment Plans as well as all changes in nomenclature, as they are technical corrections with no budgetary impact.