A4-0157/95

Resolution on the integration of the EDF in the budget of the Union

The European Parliament,

-having regard to Articles 199(1) and 203(1) of the EC Treaty,

-having regard to its resolution of 14 February 1973 embodying its opinion on the Commission proposal to the Council concerning the financial regulation applicable to the budget of the European Communities, and in particular paragraph 7 concerning the integration of the EDF in the budget of the European Communities,

-having regard to the proposal of the Commission to include the EDF in the General Budget of the European Communities of 10 January 1979 (COM(79)0004),

-having regard to the Interinstitutional agreement on budgetary discipline and the improvement of the budgetary procedure of 29 October 1993, and in particular Statement No 7 on the EDF,

-having regard to the Commission's report on arrangements and possibilities for budgetizing the European Development Fund of 6 June 1994 (SEC(94)0640),

-having regard to Rule 148 of its Rules of Procedure,

-having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets and the opinions of the Committee on Development and Cooperation and the Committee on Budgetary Control (A4-0157/95),

A.whereas the EC Treaty, and in particular Article 199 thereof, provides that all items of revenue and expenditure shall be shown in the budget,

B.whereas in Statement No. 7 annexed to the Interinstitutional Agreement of October 1993, the Council undertook to examine the detailed arrangements and possibilities for entering the 8th EDF in the budget from 1995 onwards,

C.whereas decisions on the ways and means of financing the EDF and the rules of the agreements belonging to the EDF continue to be taken outside the budget of the Union and the relevant procedures, thus perpetuating the democratic deficit in the Union,

D.whereas the European Parliament has been urging since 1973 that the democratic deficit in the Union should be eliminated and that both the EDF and the ECSC budget should be integrated in the Union's budget in accordance with the provisions of the written agreement,

E.whereas the Member States introduced the subsidiarity principle in the Treaty on European Union as a new element in Community policy; convinced that development policy is an excellent example of a political sphere which, owing to its specific nature and scope, should be implemented at Community level rather than at Member State level, in line with the principle of subsidiarity,

F.whereas the Member States have indirectly subscribed to this interpretation of the principle of subsidiarity in respect of development policy from the very outset, since they entrusted the Commission with responsibility for implementing the Lomé Convention and the EDF,

G.whereas in drawing up the budget in general and allocating resources for development policy in particular, the budgetary authority needs an overall view and comprehensive information on all the development policy measures being taken at Community level, if it is to be able to take decisions in a responsible manner,

H.whereas the integration of the EDF in the general budget of the EU will help make clear the priorities of the policies funded under Category 4 of the current Financial Perspective,

I.whereas Article C, second paragraph, of the Treaty on European Union provides that the Council and Commission shall be responsible for ensuring the consistency of all the external activities of the Union in the context of external relations, security and economic and development policies; convinced that this consistency can only be achieved if the EDF is shown in the Union's budget together with the other policies,

J.whereas the sole purpose of these proposals is to ensure the uniformity of the Union's budget and there is no intention unilaterally to alter the orientation of, or even undermine, the Lomé Conventions, or the financial endowment of the EDF,

K.whereas the EDF must meet the same standards of transparency, control and controllability laid down by the financial regulation in respect of the budget of the Union,

L.whereas the recipient countries would benefit more if management of the budget were better organized, if there was more flexibility in budgetary policy and if the resources available for development policy were grouped together; whereas a more effective use of resources is in the interests of recipient and donor countries alike, and, moreover, is to their advantage,

M.whereas the integration of the EDF in the budget of the Union will not lead to an overall increase in the financial burden borne by the Member States and whereas, in the medium term, the transfer of the EDF to the revenue side of the Union's budget will not necessarily lead to a greater burden for each individual Member State,

N.whereas the inclusion of the EDF in the budget of the Union requires an amendment to the Financial Perspective and to the resources needed to finance the budget of the Union; whereas proposals for regulations by the Commission are required to integrate the Lomé Convention in the budget,

O.whereas the Council is failing to honour the obligations it assumed under the Interinstitutional Agreement of 1993 and has adopted the 8th EDF without the participation of the budgetary authority,

P.whereas positive measures should be taken to strengthen the common nature of the EDF and eliminate from it the dead weight of certain traditions,

Q.convinced that the inclusion of the EDF in the budget of the Union is less a budgetary than a political matter,

1.Reminds the Council that the EC Treaty, and in particular Article 199 thereof, provides that all items of revenue and expenditure of the Community shall be shown in the budget;

2.Reminds the Council that in Statement No 7 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 1993, it undertook to examine the detailed arrangements and possibilities for entering the 8th EDF in the budget from 1995 onwards; in this connection deplores the fact that the Council adopted the 8th EDF without paying sufficient attention to the commitment it had entered into;

3.Considers that if the EDF remains outside the budget of the Union, this will perpetuate the democratic deficit of the Union;

4.Recalls that since 1973 the European Parliament has urged that the EDF should be integrated in the budget of the Union, that the Commission has supported this measure in the past and that the Council declared, as long ago as the end of the 1970s, that it was prepared to take appropriate measures;

Inclusion of the EDF in the budget of the Union

5.Calls on the Council to take seriously the principle of subsidiarity which it incorporated in the Treaty on European Union and to implement it in such a way that development policy becomes a model for a policy area which, owing to its specific nature and scope, should be conducted at Community level;

6.Reminds the Council that the decision to entrust the Commission from the outset with implementation of the EDF was an application of the principle of subsidiarity, since it is more appropriate that this policy should be implemented at Community level;

7.Considers that, in drawing up the budget, the budgetary authority needs an overall view of all the resources available for development policy, if it is to make competent decisions;

8.Calls on the Council to take seriously the principle of consistency which it inserted in the Treaty on European Union (Article C, second paragraph) and to enable the Community institutions to achieve this consistency between all the measures they take in foreign, security, economic and development policy;

9.Stresses its determination unreservedly to pursue and to promote the Community's development policy and highlights its conviction that an increased commitment in this policy area is particularly necessary, above all today;

10.Stresses its conviction that the parameters of development policy must be reviewed and that new elements should be added, for instance a revamped environmental policy, a training policy, a policy for the promotion of women and a policy aimed at safeguarding cultural identities, which would require an overall increase in the Union's financial commitment;

11.Rejects the notion that the European Union should scale down its financial and political commitment in the field of development policy, notably towards the ACP States;

12.Stresses, in particular, that the integration of the EDF in the budget of the Union will not lead to a direct or indirect reduction of the financial commitment of the Union vis-à-vis the ACP States and other third countries, and that it will not mean a unilateral reorientation or undermining of the Lomé Convention;

13.Demands that the standards of transparency, control and 'controllability', set out in the financial regulation governing the budget of the Union, should also apply to the budgetization and implementation of the EDF;

14.Considers that the ACP States would benefit from integration of the EDF in the budget of the Union, since this would mean that the budget would be better managed, there would be greater flexibility in budgetary policy and all resources earmarked for development policy would be grouped together;

15.Notes that the integration of the EDF in the budget of the Union must not be permitted to lead to an increase in the overall financial burden borne by the Member States and that, even in the medium term, the transfer of the EDF to the revenue side of the budget of the Union must not lead to a change in the burden borne by each individual Member State;

16.Notes that awareness among the Union Member States of the potential of the EDF is extremely uneven and calls on the Commission to carry out, as a matter of urgency, a specific programme in those countries where the information deficit is greatest;

17.Notes that, in accordance with the decisions taken under the Interinstitutional Agreement of 1993, the EDF resources in the budget of the Union are classified as non-compulsory expenditure;

18.Accepts that transitional arrangements may be required for the financing of expenditure formerly covered by the European Development Funds following their inclusion in the general budget; stresses, however, that such a transitional regime must not last longer than five years and must ultimately be replaced by financing from own resources respecting the principles of budgetary unity and non-assignment of income; underlines the need for linkage between the existing system and the future, fully-budgetized EDF, including the aspects specific to discharge;

19.Calls on the Commission, upon budgetization of the EDFs, to propose an amendment to the Financial Regulation in such a way as to facilitate decentralized financial management of budgetary appropriations, thus allowing a simplified and more efficient system for the management of development and other external assistance programmes;

20.Underlines the importance of development policy appropriations being reliable over a period of several years; calls therefore on the Commission to propose a system of multi-annual programming for former EDF appropriations which will provide beneficiary states with the necessary security of funding while respecting the principle of budgetary annuality;

21.Reminds the Commission that many of the management systems currently employed under the EDFs could usefully be incorporated in the management systems of the general budget;

22.Calls on the Commission to submit proposals for a review of the Financial Perspective and of the decision on own resources with a view to the inclusion of the EDF in the budget of the Union, adjusting the ceiling accordingly;

23.Calls on the Commission to submit proposals for regulations to adapt and/or incorporate the Lomé Convention regulations;

24.Calls on the Council to rectify its failure to honour the obligations it has assumed and notes that the main requirement is a political decision from which a budgetary regulation would follow;

25.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the governments and parliaments of the Member States.