The European Parliament,

-  having regard to Article 272 of the EC Treaty,

-  having regard to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 6 May 1999 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline and improvement of the budgetary procedure(1) ,

-  having regard to its resolution of 23 March 1999 on the guidelines for the 2000 budgetary procedure: Section I - European Parliament, Ombudsman Annex; Section II - Council; Section IV - Court of Justice; Section V - Court of Auditors; Section VI - Economic and Social Committee and Committee of the Regions(2) ,

-  having regard to its resolution of 5 May 1999 on the estimates of revenue and expenditure of the European Parliament and the estimates of revenue and expenditure of the Ombudsman for the financial year 2000(3) ,

-  having regard to the preliminary draft budget for the financial year 2000 (COM(1999) 200 ),

-  having regard to the draft general budget for the financial year 2000 established by the Council (C5-0300/1999 ),

-  having regard to Article 199 of the EC Treaty, Article 25 of the ECSC Treaty and Article 112 of the EAEC Treaty,

-  having regard to Rule 183 of and Annex VI(II) to its Rules of Procedure,

-  having regard to the preliminary draft supplementary estimates for the 2000 budget adopted by its Bureau on 2 December 1999,

-  having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets (A5-0100/1999 ),

1.  Adopts unamended its supplementary estimates;

2.  Stresses, however, that in the event that the final decision of the Court of First Instance in Case T-222/99 cancels the Court's decision of 25 November 1999 the posts will become vacant, and then remain so, and the upgrading will be cancelled;

3.  Instructs its President to forward the supplementary estimates to the Commission and the Council.

(1) OJ C 172, 18.6.1999, p.1. (2) OJ C 177, 22.6.1999, p. 44. (3) OJ C 279, 1.10.1999, p. 227.