on Draft amending budget No 9/2009 of the European Union for the financial year 2009, earthquake in Italy, Section III – Commission

(00000/2009 - C7-0000/2009 - 2009/2087(BUD))

The European Parliament,

–   having regard to Article 272 of the EC Treaty and Article 177 of the Euratom Treaty,

–   having regard to Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities(1), and particularly Articles 37 and 38 thereof,

–   having regard to the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2009, as finally adopted on 18 December 2008(2),

–   having regard to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 17 May 2006 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline and sound financial management(3),

–   having regard to Preliminary draft amending budget No 9/2009 of the European Union for the financial year 2009, which the Commission presented on 28 August 2009 (COM(2009)0448),

–   having regard to Draft amending budget No 9/2009, which the Council established on xxx 2009 (00000/2009 – C7-0000/2009),

–   having regard to Rule 75 of and Annex IV to its Rules of Procedure,

–   having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets (A7-0023/2009),

A.  whereas Draft amending budget No 9 to the general budget 2009 covers the following items:

–   Mobilisation of the EU Solidarity Fund for an amount of EUR 493,78 million in commitment and payment appropriations relating to the effects of the earthquake that hit Italy in April 2009,

–   A corresponding reduction in global payment appropriations of EUR 493,78 million from following budget lines :

05 04 02 01 Completion of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund, Guidance Section – Objective 1 regions (2000-2006);

06 02 06 Programme Marco Polo II;

06 04 06 Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme – "Intelligent Energy Europe" Programme;

06 06 01 02 Research related to energy – Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH);

06 06 02 01 Research related to transport (including Aeronautics);

06 06 02 03 SESAR Joint Undertaking;

06 06 05 02 Completion of the sixth EC framework programme (2003-2006); 07 03 07 LIFE+ (Financial Instrument for the Environment – 2007 to 2013 08 02 01 Cooperation – Health;

08 07 02 Cooperation – Transport - Clean Sky Joint;

08 10 01 Ideas;

11 06 01 Completion of the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG) – Objective 1 (2000-2006)

and 11 06 04 Completion of the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG) – outside Objective 1 areas (2000-2006),

B.  whereas the purpose of Draft amending budget No 9/2009 is to formally enter this budgetary adjustment into the 2009 budget,

1.  Takes note of Preliminary draft amending budget No 9/2009, which is the fifth amending budget solely dedicated to the EU Solidarity Fund, in accordance with the request of the European Parliament and the Council in the joint declaration adopted during the Conciliation meeting of 17 July 2008;

2.  Approves Draft amending budget No 9/2009 unamended;

3.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and Commission.

(1) OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1. (2) OJ L 69, 13.3.2009. (3) OJ C 139, 14.6.2006, p. 1.

According to Article 37(1) of the Financial Regulation, the Commission may present preliminary draft amending budgets if they are "unavoidable, exceptional or unforeseen circumstances".

Concerning the different points of Draft amending budgets No 9/2009, your rapporteur has the following comments:

1. Mobilisation of the EU Solidarity Fund

The European Commission proposed on 22 June 2009 a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on the mobilisation of the Solidarity Fund, which is based on the provisions of point 26 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 17 May 2006.

The conditions of the eligibility to the Fund are detailed in Point 26 of the IIA as well as in Council Regulation n° 2012/2002 establishing the EUSF. It is important to note that the objective of the Fund is not the compensation for private damage but to repair infrastructure and it is a tool of refinancing.

The mobilisation decision is subject of a parallel report by Mr Böge which approves the decision. It is to note that during the 2009 Budget year the fund was mobilised one time in favour of Romania (EUR 11,8 million) and a second time in Favour of France (EUR 109,4 million ).

Now the Commission proposes to mobilise EUR 493, 78 in commitment and payment appropriations relating to the effects of an earthquake in Italy. It is proposed to redeploy the corresponding payment appropriations from the policy areas 05 Agricultural and Rural Development, 07 Environment, 08 Research and 11 Maritime Affairs and Fisheries

It has to be reminded that on 17 July 2008, during the Conciliation, Parliament and Council stated in a common declaration that they "welcome the Commission commitment according to which, as from now, every Preliminary Draft Amending Budget required by the mobilisation of the Solidarity fund will be solely for that purpose."

This is the fifth amending budget - since the declaration - that takes into consideration solely the mobilisation of the EUSF.

Your rapporteur welcomes the Commission proposal as it is in line with its commitment taken on 17 July 2008.

2. Financing

The total annual budget available for the Solidarity Fund is EUR 1 000 million. In 2009, EUR 121,2 million has already been earmarked for earlier applications leaving EUR 878,8 million available.

As solidarity was the central justification for the creation of the Fund, the Commission takes the view that aid from the Fund should be progressive. That means that, according to previous practice, the portion of the damage exceeding the threshold (0,6 % of the GNI or EUR 3 billion in 2002 prices, whichever is the lower amount) should give rise to higher aid intensity than damage up to the threshold. The rate applied in the past for defining the allocations for major disasters is 2,5 % of total direct damage under the threshold for mobilizing the Fund and 6 % above. The methodology for calculating Solidarity Fund aid was set out in the 2002-2003 Annual Report on the Solidarity Fund and accepted by the Council and the European Parliament.

It is proposed to apply the same percentages in this case and to grant the following aid amounts:

This amount of compensation will leave at least 25 % of the European Union Solidarity Fund available for allocation during the last quarter of the year, as required by Article 4(2) of Regulation (EC) 2012/2002.

It is proposed to redeploy the EUR 493 771 159 in payment appropriations from the policy areas 05 Agricultural and Rural Development, 07 Environment, 08 Research and 11 Maritime Affairs and Fisheries. The budget lines concerned are the following ones:

05 04 02 01 Completion of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund,

Guidance Section – Objective 1 regions (2000-2006) – EUR 70 110 359. According to the Commission the redeployment is possible because no programmes will be closed in 2009 and the available payment appropriations will be used only for reimbursements up to 95 % of the amounts committed.

06 02 06 Programme Marco Polo II – EUR 23 000 000. According to the Commission, requirements in 2009 will be limited to pre-financing payments and as interim payments will not be due within the year, it will only be possible to absorb part of the additional amount through 2009 pre-financing.

06 04 06 Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme – "Intelligent Energy Europe" Programme – EUR 38 000 000. According to the Commission EUR 12 million, representing 52 % of the original allocation, can be absorbed.

06 06 01 02 Research related to energy – Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH) – EUR 19 660 800. The call for 2009 has been launched in early July, with a closing date of 15 October 2009. Therefore there will be no payments on this budget line in 2009.

06 06 02 01 Research related to transport (including Aeronautics) – EUR 15 000 000. A call for proposals was made in 2007, but the contracts were only signed at the end of 2008, which means that it will not be possible to make the majority of the intermediate payments in 2009.

06 06 02 03 SESAR Joint Undertaking – EUR 10 000 000. SESAR is also financed by appropriations from EUROCONTROL. EUROCONTROL has now transferred its contribution in 2009, with the result that a lower contribution is required from the Community budget

06 06 05 02 Completion of the sixth EC framework programme (2003-2006) – EUR 35 000 000. Delays in the submission of intermediate reports by beneficiaries have caused further delays in the full implementation of this budget line.

07 03 07 LIFE+ (Financial Instrument for the Environment – 2007 to 2013) EUR 110 000 000. The Commission provides the following justification for the transfer of credits from this Item. In 2009 budget procedure the budgetary authority increased the appropriations for LIFE+, both in commitments (+ EUR 29,3 million) and in payment appropriations (+ EUR 131 million). The payment regime leads to a payment of 40 % of the commitment (related to this call for proposals) in the year of its signature, 30 % when a sufficient level of spending has been reached (usually between the first and third year after signature), and 30 % after evaluation of the final report (from three to six or more years after signature). Consequently, the increase in payment appropriations voted cannot be implemented in 2009.

08 02 01 Cooperation – Health – EUR 25 000 000. Delays in the commitment procedures have shifted pre-financing payments foreseen for 2009 to 2010. Compared with the Preliminary Draft Budget (PDB) 2009, the timetable for the call for proposals for FP7-Health 2009 shifted slightly as the approval of the 2009 Work Cooperation Programme – Health was delayed to the end of August 2008. The initial timetable (evaluation, overall commitment, negotiation, commitment, signature of contracts and completion of pre-financing) was therefore delayed. Therefore, fewer individual commitments will be made in 2009 and fewer cases will therefore be pre-financed in 2009. Consequently payment appropriations can be made available.

08 07 02 Cooperation – Transport - Clean Sky Joint Undertaking – EUR 22 000 000. The call will be launched in the third or fourth quarter of 2009, which means that no payments will be associated with it for the year 2009. Since the adopted plan requires a lower contribution from the Community budget than originally anticipated, some EUR 22 million may be redeployed

08 10 01 Ideas – EUR 45 000 000. This is the first year of the Ideas programme for which interim payments are due. Based on the first cost claims received, the initial estimations have been revised downward. In addition, delayed evaluations will result in the later signature of grant agreements.

11 06 01 Completion of the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG) – Objective 1 (2000-2006) – EUR 16 000 000 and 11 06 04 Completion of the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG) – outside Objective 1 areas (2000-2006) – EUR 65 000 000. According to the Commission EUR 81 million in payment appropriations for the programming period 2000-2006 is available because payments for a number of operational programmes have reached the ceiling for payments which can be made before final closure.

The rapporteur takes note of the remarks of the letter by the Chairman of the Committee on Regional development to the Chair of the Committee on Budgets of 06/10/2009 in which it agrees on the Commission's mobilisation proposal.

The rapporteur proposes to accept the proposed Draft Amending Budget 9/2009.