A3-0423/93

Resolution on the draft general budget of the European Communities for the financial year 1994 - Section III - Commission - modified by the Council

The European Parliament,

-having regard to the draft budget for 1994 with amendments made and modifications proposed by Parliament, as modified by the Council's second reading on 15 November 1993 (C3-0470/93),

-having regard to draft letter of amendment No. 1/94 of 5 November 1993 (C3-0370/93),

-having regard to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 29 October 1993 and the financial perspective for 1994 annexed thereto,

-having regard to its resolution of 28 October 1993 on the draft general budget of the European Communities for the 1994 financial year, Section III - Commission),

-having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets (A3-0423/93),

1.Points out that at its first reading Parliament kept within the margins for manoeuvre deriving from Article 203 of the EEC Treaty and the financial perspective annexed to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 29 October 1993;

2.Notes with satisfaction that the Council, at second reading, abandoned the practice of wholly technical readings which had been its approach until the first reading of the present draft budget;

3.Regrets, nevertheless, that without providing justifications, amendment by amendment, the Council has opposed one third of Parliament's amendments, with the main argument that free margins must be maintained below the ceilings for the various headings of the financial perspective;

4.Points out that the Council itself has not left a free margin below the ceiling for heading 1 - EAGGF - but has actually used the free margin left available by Parliament in heading 3 for financial requirements not specified in its original draft budget (the Agency for Medicinal Products);

5.Considers it has made an appreciable contribution to improving the budgetary cooperation agreed in the Interinstitutional Agreement by:

-achieving free margins, for a possible supplementary and amending budget, of ECU 10 m in heading 3, ECU 15 m in heading 4 and ECU 16 m in heading 5,

-considerably reducing the number of 'small' budgetary lines,

-taking special care to ensure that the remarks included in the budget facilitate efficient budgetary implementation;

6.Shares the Council's and Commission's concern at the gravity of the economic crisis which the Member States of the European Union are currently going through and considers that the budget partly meets that concern; points out, in this connection, that the budget makes it possible to finance action on employment and growth which may help to reduce the gravity of the crisis;

7.Notes that the 1994 budget is an increase of 4.3% in commitment appropriations and 4.7% in payment appropriations on the 1993 budget, and considers the rise to be consistent with those in the budgets of the Member States, even though new tasks have been allocated to the European Union and new bodies have been added to it;

8.Accepts draft letter of amendment No. 1/94 for the lines which are not affected by the amendments adopted at second reading;

On agricultural spending

9.Draws attention to its positions on classification and reinstates some amendments concerning expenditure which it considers to be non-compulsory;

10.Welcomes the Commission's statement that it will do its utmost to preserve the Community's financial interests, including giving thought to introducing fines or interest on arrears in the event of fraud or failure to comply with Community law, and believes that this must be applied even where Member States are concerned;

11.Considers that where infringements are confirmed, fines or interest on arrears should be entered in the revenue section of the budget;

On the Structural Funds

12.Draws attention to its position on Objectives 3 and 4 stressing the need not to reduce Objective 3 appropriations below the 1993 level and wishing Objective 4 to be allocated a significant amount in future reaching 20% of appropriations for Objectives 3 and 4;

On internal policies

13.Welcomes the fact that the Council has accepted the figure in the amendment for employment and growth in Europe; notes the Commission's proposal to change the legal basis; points out that finance for this action will depend on the funds available in each financial year and considers that anticipated cover cannot be excluded if resources should be made available during the year;

14.Takes note of the appropriations entered for vocational training measures, particularly on behalf of women; welcomes, especially, the success of the IRIS programme; considers that the programme should pursue its activities and understands that, in its implementation phase, the endowment should at least be equivalent to that of the preceding financial year;

15.Welcomes the fact that the appropriations to finance the various agencies for which a legal basis exists have been entered in the budget, although it considers that budgetary consistency must be defined for all such agencies; points out that the Commission has already been asked to report on this subject;

16.Welcomes the fact that research policy, with an endowment of ECU 2 755 m, represents more than 63% of internal policy appropriations;

On external policies

17.Notes that in spite of some progress, management of the TACIS programme remains unsatisfactory, and approves the entry of ECU 255 m in commitments and ECU 120 m in payments in the reserve;

18.Invites the Commission, in order to release the appropriations from the reserve, to

-undertake, in future invitations for tenders, to point out that those proposing the participation of subcontractors from the CIS countries will be given preferential treatment.

-undertake to decentralize the distribution of funds, as has already successfully been done for PHARE.

-put every effort into verifying the guarantees of objectivity and efficiency in the measures set out in the preceding paragraphs.

-devise a new organization between the different Directorates-General and DG I, and report to Parliament by May 1994.

-undertake to furnish the Parliament with a semi-annual report on the following points:

-distribution of funds by sector and country

-distribution of funds by recipient (consultants or CIS)

-evaluation of projects undertaken with intermediate reports, with the participation of recipient institutions and the exclusion of contracting organizations.

-undertake to assess the merit of joint cooperation with the United States under the application of cost/effectiveness criteria;

19.Urges the Commission to give priority to technical cooperation and aid schemes with the local authorities in Sarajevo and other towns and cities in Bosnia-Herzegovina;

20.Approves the creation of a chapter for human rights and calls on the Commission to use the resources in lines B7-522 and B7-523 for the promotion of human rights and the democratization of developing countries in connection with Article 130u of the EC Treaty;

On administrative expenditure

21.Considers that the adopted budget should, whilst being particularly restrictive on administrative expenditure, ensure that the institutions are run efficiently;

22.Considers it inevitable that the Commission dispose of a certain number of posts for temporary agents in order to recruit specialists; underlines the specific nature of such staff, which is recruited for its technical expertise, for a limited period, and in response to changing political priorities; insists firstly that this be reflected when individual contracts come to an end, and secondly that temporary agents can only be recruited as permanent officials via fair and competitive examination; recognizing the difficulties that the Commission faces, is ready to consider proposals to be put forward by the Commission for some transformation of temporary posts into permanent posts. This proposal must indicate which posts and sectors are involved and for which reasons;

23.Approves the allocation for the lines introduced for the European Schools and welcomes the twofold undertaking by the Board of Governors with regard to the impact on the Community budget and to putting forward constructive proposals for applying uniform rules to the teaching staff over the next three or four years;

24.Notes that the Community subsidy for the European Schools exceeds 64.8% of operating expenditure; considers that the constraints laid down by the financial perspective 1994-1999 are unlikely to allow such a high level of subsidy to be maintained, particularly in the light of the expected increase in the Schools' requirements (with the building of new schools in Belgium and possibly other countries, and enlargement of the Community); asks the Member States to increase their financial participation, from 1995, in the operational funding of the European Schools to a level that will reflect their role in the Schools' management;

25.Confirms entry in the reserve of appropriations for the Office of Publications; these appropriations can be released as soon as a full report is submitted on its internal organization, pricing system in relation both to the Institutions and points of sale, and the allocation of appropriations giving rise to re-use;

On revenue

26.Confirms the vote on the amendments tabled at first reading in the revenue section of the budget, with regard in particular to taxation relating to the new posts created and an estimate of re-use;

27.Requests its President to refer in future to this budget as the general budget for the European Union;

28.Instructs its President to forward these budgetary decisions to the Council and Commission.