The European Parliament,

-  having regard to Article 272 of the EC Treaty, Article 177 of the Euratom Treaty and Article 78 of the ECSC 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) , and in particular Annex III thereof,

-  having regard to the preliminary draft budget of the Commission for 2002 (C5-0300/2001 )

-  having regard to its resolution of 3 April 2001 on the guidelines for the 2002 budget procedure - Section III - Commission(2) ,

-  having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets and the opinions of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, Committee on Fisheries, the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy and the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (A5-0241/2001 ),

A.  whereas the Commission has presented a preliminary draft budget for 2002 which foresees an increase of 3.49% in commitment appropriations compared to the 2001 budget,

B.  whereas the increase in total payment appropriations is 4.8% compared to the 2001 budget, representing nonetheless only 1.06% of the combined GNP of the Member States which represents an historical low; whereas the ceiling under the financial perspective for 2002 is 1.14% of EU GNP,

C.  whereas the conciliation before Council's first reading aims, in particular, to evaluate the needs and to secure an agreement on the appropriate level of expenditure for agriculture, international fisheries agreements and the common foreign and security policy, now including defence policy; whereas the first reading conciliation is also an occasion to secure agreement on other expenditure,

D.  whereas Parliament in its guidelines set out the following priorities for the 2002 budget: food safety, consumer confidence and sustainable agriculture; improved performance and priority setting in external policies; improved implementation of the budget, and Commission reform; whereas other initiatives announced in the guidelines include the encouragement of "e-learning” and other measures to improve employment and social inclusion, as well as the development of policy on asylum and migration,

Financial framework

1.  Considers that an appreciable margin exists under the overall ceiling for payment appropriations in 2002; underlines that this margin should be used better to implement Community policies, especially under Heading 3 and 4 and to liquidate the continuing large volume in outstanding commitments in various sectors; considers that the payments to be made available for the reserve for agriculture should not prejudice the assessment of needs for payments in Heading 3 and 4; states that this margin represents a one-off opportunity, given the likely evolution of the ceiling in payment appropriations in future years;

Agriculture

2.  Considers that the proposal by the Commission to create a reserve for agriculture earmarked for measures regarding BSE and FMD partly meets the concerns expressed by Parliament on this subject on successive occasions in the past; wonders at the Commission's reasons for proposing such a large reserve at this stage when it still has the opportunity of adjusting the PDB by means of a Letter of Amendment later in the procedure; warns against the creation of excessive reserves whenever it is extremely uncertain if the appropriations will be needed or what kind of measures will have to be covered; expects the Commission to substantiate the need for this reserve in detail in the Letter of Amendment on the most recent estimates for agriculture expenditure, in time for Parliament's first reading;

3.  Notes the Commission's readiness to present a study analysing the different measures taken as part of the 1999 reforms already underway and of the impact of the current crisis measures on Agenda 2000; expects that on the occasion of the presentation of the Letter of Amendment, this study should give the budget authority a clearer and more detailed view of the future course of reform before it takes its final decisions on the 2002 agricultural budget;

4.  Is disappointed that the Commission failed fully to implement appropriations for food safety, consumer confidence and sustainable agriculture which have been entered in the budget by the budgetary authority in recent years; calls on the Commission to seize the opportunities provided by the budgetary authority in this respect, in view of the future orientation of the CAP;

5.  Once more reaffirms its determination that agricultural expenditure should remain within the ceilings laid down in the financial perspective, in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 2040/2000 on budgetary discipline; notes that, according to the Commission's budget estimates, a margin of EUR 365 million below the ceiling remains within Titles B1-1 to B1-3 ; calls for it to be made possible, in future, to transfer funding not needed from the compulsory expenditure area to non-compulsory CAP expenditure, in order to give appropriate acknowledgement to the growing importance of Title B1-4 (Rural development) in terms of policy formulation and budgeting;

6.  Asks the Commission to submit a report on the implementation and possible violation of rules relating to animal transport in the Community; suggests that this report should be made available by 15 September 2001 so that it can be taken into account before Parliament's first reading;

Fisheries

7.  Recalls the conclusions of the Fisheries Council of 25 April 2001 that it has not been possible to conclude a fisheries agreement with Morocco; asks the Commission therefore to propose a specific action programme for restructuring the Community fleet which fished in the framework of the former fisheries agreement with Morocco, following the conclusions of the Nice European Council;

8.  Notes that the PDB still includes a provision of EUR 125 million in the reserve for line B7-8000 without further specifying the purpose of the appropriations; considers that an agreement should be reached on the amount which is actually needed in the reserve for international fisheries agreements under discussion; expects any amounts made available under Heading 4 to be used to finance Parliament's priority policies;

Common foreign and security policy

9.  Notes that the Commission in the PDB maintains the allocation for CFSP at the same level as in recent years; expresses doubts that this allocation is really justified given the number of activities previously financed under CFSP which now have their own separate legal base and given the actual implementation record of the last three years; considers also that the inclusion of administrative expenditure related to Special Representatives in the Council budget should lead to savings in the Commission budget;

10.  Notes the Commission's proposed changes in the nomenclature; before taking its final decisions on this nomenclature and on the overall financial allocation for 2002, insists that the use to be made of this appropriations is better specified in the budget remarks, notably by reference to the legal base for the actions;

11.  Supports the Commission's efforts to secure a better planning and evaluation of CFSP actions; urges the Council and Commission to move towards a multiannual programme of actions;

12.  Calls for the further development of actions for the reduction and destruction of weapons of mass destruction, as part of the development of the CFSP;

Administrative expenditure

13.  Considers that its position on further resources for the Commission and other Institutions will be conditioned by the overall situation in Heading 5 and by the progress of the reforms; points out that the current estimates submitted by the other institutions taken together with the Commission's proposals for its own administrative budget already exceed the ceiling in Heading 5, with the increase requested by the Council for its budget being among the largest of all, at 9.10% compared to 2001;

14.  Insists that the cost of the new European security and defence policy is presented in a transparent way in a separate title of Section II of the budget, in line with the Council's undertakings on the occasion of SAB No 2/2001; considers it a sine qua non that the Council presents as well the separate establishment plan relating to its ESDP activities; points out that similar questions are raised in connection with Eurojust, the EC data protection officer and the data protection bodies under Schengen and Europol;

15.  Considers that it is now urgent for the Council to engage with Parliament, as the two arms of the budgetary authority, and Commission in a study both for budget 2002 and of the longer-term needs of the ESDP, enlargement, other expanding budget areas and their implications for Heading 5, suggests that the time has come for the Council to name an overall envelope within Heading 5, which it undertakes to respect;

Improved implementation and Commission reform;

16.  Welcomes the Council's budget guidelines of 12 March 2001, which share Parliament's concern for improving implementation and evaluation; looks forward to developing further with the Council the approach taken in their joint declaration of December 2000 on the basis of the progress report presented by the Commission;

17.  Repeats its broad support for the reform process; will examine closely the effectiveness of the reforms, the progress report, the proposed allocation of the requested posts and the impact of the early retirement scheme as a necessary basis for further decision-making;

18.  Intends to continue linking the evaluation of needs for different programmes with their implementation record; intends in particular to elaborate performance targets for budget implementation and criteria for evaluating outstanding commitments in light of expected implementation; looks forward to developing further the other issues in the joint declaration, especially concerning the role of commitology in implementation and the match between the legislative programme and the budgetary procedure;

Implementation of EP initiatives

19.  Considers that the implementation of the budget as decided by the budgetary authority, is not only a matter of loyal cooperation between the institutions and respect of their obligations under the Treaty, but also a matter of Parliament's confidence in the Commission; would regret if any failure to implement budget decisions were to lead to a re-consideration of the relevant provisions of the IIA or to questions being raised in the discharge procedure;

20.  Expresses its willingness to discuss with the Commission and the Council the pilot projects and preparatory actions that it intends to include in the budget;

E-learning, employment and social inclusion

21.  Stresses the importance of this subject for enhancing employment and increasing the competitiveness of the European economy; notes the statements by the European Council on this subject and the two communications from the Commission; expects that this initiative will lead to a specific proposal of the Commission for appropriate actions at EU level; recalls its intention, as announced in the guidelines, to provide appropriate budgetary support for this initiative;

22.  Urges the Commission and Council to strengthen the measures introduced last year on employment, new technologies and SMEs and to improve their implementation;

External actions

23.  Expresses its concern about the Commission's reductions in commitments in Heading 4, as regards Parliament's traditional priorities;

Policy on migration and asylum

24.  Confirms its intention, as stated in the guidelines, to launch appropriate initiatives related to policy on asylum and migration; notes the needs identified by the Commission, including re-admission policy, the fight against trafficking, cooperation on external border controls, joint measures to do with clandestine immigration, and measures for the social inclusion of migrants; takes note of the Commission proposal on family reunification;

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

(1) OJ C172, 18.6.1999, p 1. (2) Texts Adopted, Item 9.