REPORT on Draft amending budget No 3/2009 of the European Union for the financial year 2009
31.3.2009 - (8153/2009 – C6‑0118/2009 – 2009/2017(BUD))
Section III – Commission
Committee on Budgets
Rapporteur: Jutta Haug
MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION
on Draft amending budget No 3/2009 of the European Union for the financial year 2009, Section III – Commission
(8153/2009 – C6‑0118/2009 – 2009/2017(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,
– 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 3/2009 of the European Union for the financial year 2009, which the Commission presented on 6 March 2009 (COM (2009)0110),
– having regard to Draft amending budget No 3/2009, which the Council established on 30 March 2009 (8153/2009 – C6‑0118/2009),
– having regard to Rule 69 of and Annex IV to its Rules of Procedure,
– having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets (A6-0194/2009),
A. whereas Draft amending budget No 3 to the general budget 2009 covers the following items: the readjustment of the own resources system according to Decision 2007/436/EC, Euratom of 7 June 2007 and with retroactive effect from 1 January 2007,
B. whereas the purpose of Draft amending budget No 3/2009 is to formally enter these budgetary adjustments into the 2009 budget,
1. Takes note of the Preliminary draft amending budget No 3/2009;
2. Approves Draft amending budget No 3/2009 unamended;
3. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and Commission.
EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
According to Article 37(1) of the Financial Regulation, the Commission may present preliminary draft amending budgets, if there are "unavoidable, exceptional or unforeseen circumstances".
Content of Commission Proposal
The Commission Proposal follows the entry into force as of 1 March 2009 of the Council Decision of 7 June 2007 on the System of European Community own resources (ORD 2007). The Parliament has been consulted on the basis of Simple consultation procedure on the legislative proposal and gave its assent to the Council to approve the proposal. (Lamassoure Report).
The adjustments to the own resources system covers the years 2007/2013. The preliminary draft amending budget aims to readjust the system according to the decision and with retroactive effect to 1st January 2007.
The provisions of this decision having impact on the proposal for PDAB3/2009 concern the Netherlands, Sweden and the EUK.
1. Rate of call of the VAT -based own resource
ORD 2007 fixes to 0.30% the uniform rate of call of the VAT-based resource from 1st of January 2007. For four countries it has been set differently, i.e.:
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Austria |
0.225% |
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Germany |
0.15% |
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Netherlands |
0.10 |
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Sweden |
0.10 |
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2. Netherlands - Sweden: gross reduction in their annual GNI-based contributions
Under article 2 paragraph 5, the decision foresees that "For the period 2007-2013 only the Netherlands shall benefit from a gross reduction in its annual GNI contribution of EUR 605 million and Sweden for a gross reduction in its annual GNI contribution of EUR 150 million, measured in 2004 prices.(…)"
This reduction has to be financed by all Member States according to art. 10(9) of Regulation No 1150/2000, as amended by Regulation No 105/2009 implementing ORD 2007.
3. UK Correction
Under article 4 the decision foresees that "The United Kingdom shall be granted a correction in respect of the budgetary imbalances (…)" and that "(…) during the period 207/2013 the additional contribution on the United Kingdom resulting from the reduction of allocated expenditure(…) shall not exceed EU 10,5 billion, measured in 2004 prices. Each year the Commission services shall verify whether the cumulated adjustment of the correction exceeds this amount (…) If the ceiling of EU-10,5 billion is exceeded, the United Kingdom's contribution shall be reduced accordingly. (…)"
The PDAB 3/2007 enters under chapter 15 the amount of the 1st update of the 2007 and provisional amount of the 2008 UK correction (replacing the 1st update of UK 2007 correction under chapter 15 - see AB 5/2008 - and the provisional amount of the 2008 UK correction entered under chapter 15 of budget 2009).
4. Further amendments are foreseen by the PDAB 3/2009.
By implementing the new rules regarding the call rate of the VAT‑based own resource, VAT‑based own resource contributions for the budgetary years 2007, 2008 and 2009 decreased by respectively EUR 4 382 748 876, EUR 3 269 127 949 and EUR 4 313 990 408.
To respect the principle of equilibrium applicable to the budget of the European Union, the uniform rate to be applied to the sum of all Member States' GNI has to be recalculated, taken into account the total of all other revenue, including VAT‑based own resource contribution.
Finally technical amendments are foreseen due to the entry into force of ORD 2007, namely:
- the elimination of the distinction between agricultural duties and import duties: all custom duties, including those referring to agriculture are introduced under Chapter 12;
- the creation of a new article 160 in Chapter 1 to accommodate the gross reduction in the annual GNI-based contribution granted to the Netherlands and Sweden;
- the entry of a new chapter in the budgetary nomenclature for adjustments related to ORD implementation in the years 2007 and 2008; the adjustments will be integrated in title 3, under a new chapter 37.
Rapporteur's position
The Rapporteur agrees with the amending budget proposal, nevertheless she would like to underline what follows.
The own resources issue is dealt by the Council and the European Parliament under the simple consultation procedure. At the moment when the PE was called to express its position on the Decision proposal, the EP requested what follows:
– the system of own resources should be fair, transparent and more simple;
– "whenever modifying the general review of the own resources, the Commission should accompany its proposal under the conditions laid down in Declaration number 3 on the review of the financial framework, annexed to the Interinstitutional agreement of 17 May 2006 between the European Parliament , the Council and the commission on budgetary discipline and sound financial management";
– "when preceding to the full wide range review covering all aspects of EU spending and of resources" (…) the Commission "shall take into account the results of the work jointly conducted by the national parliaments and the European Parliament "(…) and "take into account the work and recommendation of the European Parliament in accordance with declaration 3 of the IIA".
Notwithstanding the agreement with the content of the PDAB proposal, which is a mere implementation at of the Council Decision, the Rapporteur regrets that the requests of the EP during the consultation on the Decision have not been integrated by the Council into the final decision.
Finally the Rapporteur proposes to adopt the PDAB 3/2009 unamended.
RESULT OF FINAL VOTE IN COMMITTEE
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Date adopted |
31.3.2009 |
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Result of final vote |
+: –: 0: |
13
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Members present for the final vote |
Reimer Böge, Salvador Garriga Polledo, Ingeborg Gräßle, Janusz Lewandowski, László Surján, Catherine Guy-Quint, Jutta Haug, Vladimír Maňka, Kyösti Virrankoski, Wiesław Stefan Kuc |
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Substitute(s) present for the final vote |
Paul Rübig, Peter Šťastný, Gianluca Susta |
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