on Council´s position on Draft amending budget No 2/2010 of the European Union for the financial year 2010

(12583/2010 – C7-0194/2010 – 2010/2046(BUD))

The European Parliament,

–   having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and in particular Article 314 thereof and to the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community, and in particular Article 106a thereof,

–   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,

–   having regard to the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2010, as finally adopted on 17 December 2009(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 Draft amending budget No 2/2010 of the European Union for the financial year 2010, which the Commission presented on 19 March 2010 (COM (2010)0108),

–   having regard to the letter of Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski to President Buzek of 9 July 2010,

–   having regard to Council's position on Draft amending budget No 2/2010, which the Council established on 26 July 2010 (12583/2010 – C7-0194/2010),

–   having regard to Rules 75b and 75e of its Rules of Procedure,

–   having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets (A7-0240/2010),

A. whereas the Council's position on Draft amending budget No 2/2010 covers the establishment plan of the BEREC (Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications) Office,

B.  whereas the purpose of Draft amending budget No 2/2010 is to formally enter this budgetary adjustment into the 2010 budget,

C. whereas the Council adopted its position on 26 July 2010,

1.  Takes note of Draft amending budget No 2/2010;

2.  Approves Council's position on Draft amending budget No 2/2010 unamended and instructs its President to declare that Amending budget No x/2010 has been definitively adopted and to arrange for its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union;

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

(1) OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1. (2) OJ L 64, 12.3.2010. (3) OJ C 139, 14.6.2006, p. 1.

During the Trilogue of 30 June it became clear that the Council did not wish to reach a position on the major part of this amending budget, i.e. the consequences of the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty for the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the Committee of the Regions (CoR).

The measures proposed by the two committees total EUR 10, 5 million (EUR 4,1 million for the EESC and EUR 6,4 million for the CoR). There would be an increase in staff of 59 posts (22 for the EESC and 37 for the CoR).

During the Trilogue, the EP delegation urged the Council to reach a position as soon as possible.

On the other hand, both Council and EP delegations agreed that the change to the Establishment plan for BEREC (Office of the Body of the European Regulators for Electronic Communications), which has no financial impact, could go ahead without delay. They agreed on the proposal's being treated separately from the remaining draft amending budget.

Accordingly, by letter of Commissioner Lewandowski of 5 July 2010, the European Commission proposed splitting the draft amending Budget (COM(2010)0108) into two parts.

The present report concerns therefore only Section III of the Budget.

For 2010, the budgetary authority allocated an amount of EUR 3,47 million (EUR 2,57 million for administrative and EUR 0,9 million for operational expenditure), including the total number of staff by function groups but with no breakdown by grades.

It is therefore necessary to amend the 2010 establishment plan in order to include the detailed establishment plan by grades.

The proposed modification does not require any additional spending, as the corresponding administrative appropriations have already been authorised in the 2010 budget.