A3-0420/93

Resolution on the draft ECSC operating budget for 1994 (SEC(93)1762 - C3-0469/93)

The European Parliament,

-having regard to the draft ECSC operating budget for 1994 submitted by the Commission (SEC(93)1762 - C3-0469/93),

-having regard to the communication of 20 October 1993 from the Commission to the Council on the future of the ECSC Treaty: borrowing/lending activity (COM(93)0512),

-having regard to the Commission working document of 20 October 1993 updating the communication to the Council on the future of the ECSC Treaty: financial activity (SEC(93)1596),

-having regard to the conclusions of the Industry Council of 18 November 1993,

-having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets and the opinions of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Industrial Policy, the Committee on Energy, Research and Technology and the Committee on Social Affairs, Employment and the Working Environment (A3-0420/93),

A.whereas the draft ECSC operating budget for 1994 has been submitted by the Commission concomitantly with its recommendations on the future of the ECSC Treaty,

B.whereas the economic and social crisis affecting the coal and steel industries has worsened further by comparison with the previous year,

C.whereas the phasing-out of ECSC activities cannot be carried out without the parallel phasing-in of these activities in the general budget,

1.Notes that the overall volume of the ECSC operating budget has been reduced by almost 30% compared with the 1993 budget;

2.Stresses that this reduction is mainly due to the cut in the net balance for the financial year (-44% compared with 1993), while the share accounted for by the levy will rise from 21% in 1993 to 26%, the rate being fixed at 0.23%;

3.Stresses that, even though the consequent phasing-out has had a tangible effect, particularly as regards aid to research (-60% compared with 1993), no specific proposals have been put forward to offset these cuts through the phasing-in of activities into the general budget;

4.Urges the Commission, therefore, to submit the draft ECSC operating budget in June in future, so that the procedural timetable for the adoption of the general budget and the ECSC budget coincide;

5.Stresses the need to compensate for the Council's failure to act on phasing-in, beginning with the first reading of the draft general budget, with a view to establishing synergy between phasing-out and phasing-in;

6.Calls on the Commission in this connection to submit, within the same timeframe, a summary table setting out the phasing-in arrangements for each item of the operating budget, taking account of the need for new legal bases, of whether it will be necessary to create new headings and of the sums to be set aside for this purpose;

7.Considers, finally, that, in view of the additional funding requirements for this budget, a supplementary and amending budget should be submitted as soon as possible after publication of the balance for the 1993 financial year so that Parliament can deliver its opinion before the end of the current electoral period;

8.Endorses, bearing in mind the reduction in resources, the guidelines adopted by the Commission as regards the priority given to redeployment aid and social measures in the steel industry;

9.Approves the use of the special reserve to provide ECU 22 m in extraordinary resources and endorses the rate proposed for the levy;

10.Stresses, as regards the requirements, the need, if there is to be no phasing-in, to adjust the amounts envisaged for aid for research and for social measures in the coal sector;

11.Points out in this connection that the aid in the form of interest subsidies on conversion loans (Article 56(2)(a)) could be transferred to the general budget, as has been done for the temporary facility for SMUs and that this could be done under the Objective 2 CSFs;

12.Believes, therefore, that phasing-in might usefully be applied to this item and thus decides to reduce the amount of aid to ECU 17 m so as to encourage the Commission to have these loans taken over as soon as possible by the EIB;

13.Decides to allocate ECU 50 m to social measures in the coal industry, while endorsing the Commission's commitment to allocate any additional resources to social measures linked to restructuring in the steel industry with a view to reaching the level of ECU 120 m;

14.Decides that the amount of aid for research should be set at ECU 78 m, with a fair distribution between the steel and coal sectors (ECU 34 m each), ECU 10 m being reserved for social research; recalls in this connection the lines created in the 1994 general budget for steel research (B6-8313) and coal research (B6-8342), as well as its amendment to the fourth research and technological development framework programme, stressing that a sum of ECU 300 m spread over five years might be earmarked for research and development in the coal and steel sectors under the chapter devoted to industrial technology;

15.Accepts the Commission's view that it is preferable to stabilize the level of the guarantee fund (ECU 430 m) pending a Council decision on borrowing and lending activity and its decision on the introduction of voluntary arrangements linked to restructuring in the steel industry;

16.Stresses, finally, that it is anachronistic to maintain the heading 'Administrative expenditure' in the ECSC operating budget in the context of phasing-out; calls on the Commission speedily to draw up a proposal for the complete deletion of this contribution from the ECSC to the Community's operating expenses;

17.Agrees to deliver its opinion on the future of the ECSC Treaty promptly;

18.Instructs its President to forward this resolution and the European Parliament's decisions on the fixing of the ECSC levy rate and the establishment of the ECSC operating budget for 1994 to the Commission.