PURPOSE: final adoption of amending budget No 3 of the European Union for the financial year 2008.

LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision 2008/606/EC, Euratom.

CONTENT: the European Parliament effected the final adoption of amending budget 3/2008 of the European Union, in accordance with its resolution of 5 June 2008 (please refer to the summary of the resolution).

This amending budget covers the following issues:

the budgeting of the revenue accruing from the Microsoft case (fine and interest totalling EUR 849 200 000), the budgeting of savings arising from the smaller than estimated increase for salaries and pensions of officials in 2007, the reinforcement of the emergency fund for veterinary measures due to the bluetongue crisis by EUR 130 million in commitment appropriations, and EUR 63 950 000 in payment appropriations, the creation of budgetary items to accommodate subsidies for four Joint Undertakings (IMI, Clean Sky, Artemis and ENIAC), the mobilisation of the EU Solidarity Fund for an amount of EUR 98 million in commitment and payment appropriations (relating to forest fires in Greece and floods in Slovenia), the modifications to the establishment plan of the European Institute for Gender Equality, and of the European Economic and Social Committee.

Budget 2008/606
OJ L 208 05.08.2008, p. 0001

SP(2008)4439

Results of vote in Parliament

The European Parliament adopted by 598 votes to 19, with 15 abstentions, a resolution which aims to approve, unamended, the draft amending budget No 3/2008 of the European Union.

The report had been tabled for consideration in plenary by Kyösti VIRRANKOSKI (ALDE, FI) and Ville ITÄLÄ (EPP-ED, FI) on behalf of the Committee on Budgets.

The Parliament recalls the main points of this draft budget, which cover the following items:

the budgeting of the revenue accruing from the Microsoft case (fine and interest totalling EUR 849 200 000), the budgeting of savings arising from the smaller than estimated increase for salaries and pensions of officials in 2007, the reinforcement of the emergency fund for veterinary measures due to the bluetongue crisis by EUR 130 million in commitment appropriations, and EUR 63 950 000 in payment appropriations, the creation of budgetary items to accommodate subsidies for four Joint Undertakings (IMI, Clean Sky, Artemis and ENIAC), the mobilisation of the EU Solidarity Fund for an amount of EUR 98 million in commitment and payment appropriations (relating to forest fires in Greece and floods in Slovenia),

· the modifications to the establishment plan of the European Institute for Gender Equality, and of the European Economic and Social Committee.

In addition, the Parliament indicates that the Council ensured that the Microsoft monitoring mechanism, linked to the Microsoft case, was exclusively financed by the savings in salaries and pensions in Heading 5 of the Financial Perspectives (FP). It regrets the fact that the Council unexpectedly reduced budget line 26 02 01, thus introducing a new element, without consulting the Parliament . On the other hand, it is awaiting the use of these savings in Heading 1a of the FP for funding of the priorities of the Parliament.

In addition, the Parliament hopes that, in future, the Commission avoids including the funding linked to instruments such as the EU Solidarity Fund or the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund in draft amending budgets together with other issues, so as to avoid any delay in the decision and delivery of the amounts in question.

T6-0242/2008

A6-0204/2008

A6-0204/2008

The Committee on Budgets unanimously adopted the joint report by Kyösti VIRRANKOSKI (ALDE, FI) and Ville ITÄLÄ (EPP-ED, FI), adopting unamended the d raft amending budget No 3/2008 of the European Union.

MEPs recalled the main points of this draft budget, which covers the following items:

the budgeting of the revenue accruing from the Microsoft case (fine and interest totalling EUR 849 200 000), the budgeting of savings arising from the smaller than estimated increase for salaries and pensions of officials in 2007, reinforcement of the emergency fund for veterinary measures due to the bluetongue crisis by EUR 130 million in commitment appropriations, and EUR 63 950 000 in payment appropriations, the creation of budgetary items to accommodate subsidies for four Joint Undertakings (IMI, Clean Sky, ARTEMIS and ENIAC), mobilisation of the EU Solidarity Fund for an amount of EUR 98 million in commitment and payment appropriations (relating to forest fires in Greece and floods in Slovenia), modifications to the establishment plan of the European Institute for Gender Equality and of the European Economic and Social Committee.

MEPs pointed out that the Council ensured that the so-called Microsoft monitoring mechanism, linked to the Microsoft case, was exclusively financed by the savings in salaries and pensions in Heading 5 of the Financial Perspectives (FP). They also regretted the fact that the Council unexpectedly reduced budget line 26 02 01, thus introducing a new element, without any discussion with the Parliament, and hoped to see the use of these savings in Heading 1a of the FP for funding Parliament's priorities.

In addition, MEPs asked the Commission, in future, to avoid including the funding linked to instruments such as the EU Solidarity Fund in draft amending budgets together with other issues, so as to avoid any delay in the decision and delivery of the amounts in question.

On 15 April 2008, the Commission forwarded to the Council preliminary draft amending budget (PDAB) No. 3/2008 to the general budget for 2008, incorporating the following elements:

The budgeting of the revenue accruing from the Microsoft case, following the final judgement of the Court of First Instance, for a total amount of EUR 849.2 million ; The mobilisation of the EU Solidarity Fund for an amount of EUR 98 million in commitment and payment appropriations relating to forest fires in Greece in August 2007 (EUR 89.7 million) and floods in Slovenia in September 2007 (EUR 8.3 million) accompanied by the corresponding proposal for a Decision on the mobilisation of the EU Solidarity Fund (see ACI/2008/2091 ); The budgeting of part of the savings arising from an increase for staff pay and pensions smaller than estimated in 2007, leading to a reduction of EUR 2.3 million in commitment and payment appropriations for the pensions and severance grants budget line (item 30 01 13 07) – in this context, the Commission proposed to budget separately the remaining part of EUR 16.6 million in its request for transfer No. DEC7/2008 and to use it for the financing of the Monitoring Mechanism related to the Microsoft judgement; The reinforcement of the budget item "emergency fund for veterinary complaints and other animal contamination which are a risk for public health" (17 04 03 01) due to the bluetongue crisis, of EUR 130 million in commitment appropriations, and EUR 64 million in payment appropriations; The creation of the necessary budgetary structure to accommodate four Joint Technology Initiatives: Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), Clean Sky, ARTEMIS (Joint Technology Initiative in Embedded Computing Systems) and ENIAC (European Technology Platform on Nanoelectronics) with a total allocation of EUR 257.5 million in commitment appropriations and EUR 194.6 million in payment appropriations coming from the 7th Research Framework Programme; The modification to the establishment plan of the European Institute for Gender Equality: it is proposed to upgrade the AD13 available post to grade AD14, this readjustment having no impact on the level of budgetary appropriations; The modifications to the establishment plan of the European Economic and Social Committee. The various conversion, upgrading and downgrading operations proposed, in budget terms neutral, would result in increasing the AD temporary posts by 1 unit, in decreasing the AST permanent posts by 3 units and in increasing the AST temporary posts by 2 units.

The net effect of PDAB No. 3/2008 would be an increase of EUR 689.5 million on the revenue side in the 2008 general budget, diminishing accordingly the global contribution of the Member States to its financing.

At the simplified trilogue provided for in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 17 May 2006 on the financing of the EU Solidarity Fund, an agreement was reached on the Decision on the mobilisation of the EU Solidarity Fund and on the amount as proposed by the Commission.

With respect to the other elements of PDAB No. 3/2008 included in the Commission proposal, an overall agreement was reached by qualified majority, articulated as follows:

(1) to include the content of transfer No. DEC 7/2008 in PDAB No. 3/2008 (transfer No. DEC7/2008 was rejected by the Council on 14 May 2008), so that:

the total amount of the savings (EUR 18.9 million) arising from the smaller than estimated increase for pay and pensions is budgeted for reasons of transparency through one amending budget; the financing of the Monitoring Mechanism related to the Microsoft judgement, as updated by the Commission on 22 May 2008, is budgeted from an amount of EUR 14.6 million (EUR 2.4 million on line 03 01 02 11 and EUR 12.2 million on line 03 03 02).

(2) to finance part of the appropriations needed for this Monitoring Mechanism related to the Microsoft judgement by redeploying verifiable savings (EUR 3.9 million) from budget line 26 02 01 ("Procedures for awarding and advertising public supply, works and service contracts"); the remaining financing would be covered by the savings on salaries;

(3) to reject the modification to the establishment plan of the European Institute for Gender Equality;

(4) to accept the other proposals from the Commission.

Following the adoption of this draft amending budget, the Commission entered the following statement in the minutes: “The Commission confirms the importance of ensuring a smooth process for the adoption of the decision on the mobilisation of the EU Solidarity Fund. Taking into consideration the wishes of the budgetary authority, the Commission confirms, that in the future, every amending budget required by the mobilisation of the Solidarity Fund will be solely for that purpose ”.

As a result, the Council established draft amending budget No. 3 as modified above. At the same time, the Council also adopted the Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on the mobilisation of the EU Solidarity Fund as proposed by the Commission.

09903/2008

On 15 April 2008, the Commission forwarded to the Council preliminary draft amending budget (PDAB) No. 3/2008 to the general budget for 2008, incorporating the following elements:

The budgeting of the revenue accruing from the Microsoft case, following the final judgement of the Court of First Instance, for a total amount of EUR 849.2 million ; The mobilisation of the EU Solidarity Fund for an amount of EUR 98 million in commitment and payment appropriations relating to forest fires in Greece in August 2007 (EUR 89.7 million) and floods in Slovenia in September 2007 (EUR 8.3 million) accompanied by the corresponding proposal for a Decision on the mobilisation of the EU Solidarity Fund (see ACI/2008/2091 ); The budgeting of part of the savings arising from an increase for staff pay and pensions smaller than estimated in 2007, leading to a reduction of EUR 2.3 million in commitment and payment appropriations for the pensions and severance grants budget line (item 30 01 13 07) – in this context, the Commission proposed to budget separately the remaining part of EUR 16.6 million in its request for transfer No. DEC7/2008 and to use it for the financing of the Monitoring Mechanism related to the Microsoft judgement; The reinforcement of the budget item "emergency fund for veterinary complaints and other animal contamination which are a risk for public health" (17 04 03 01) due to the bluetongue crisis, of EUR 130 million in commitment appropriations, and EUR 64 million in payment appropriations; The creation of the necessary budgetary structure to accommodate four Joint Technology Initiatives: Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), Clean Sky, ARTEMIS (Joint Technology Initiative in Embedded Computing Systems) and ENIAC (European Technology Platform on Nanoelectronics) with a total allocation of EUR 257.5 million in commitment appropriations and EUR 194.6 million in payment appropriations coming from the 7th Research Framework Programme; The modification to the establishment plan of the European Institute for Gender Equality: it is proposed to upgrade the AD13 available post to grade AD14, this readjustment having no impact on the level of budgetary appropriations; The modifications to the establishment plan of the European Economic and Social Committee. The various conversion, upgrading and downgrading operations proposed, in budget terms neutral, would result in increasing the AD temporary posts by 1 unit, in decreasing the AST permanent posts by 3 units and in increasing the AST temporary posts by 2 units.

The net effect of PDAB No. 3/2008 would be an increase of EUR 689.5 million on the revenue side in the 2008 general budget, diminishing accordingly the global contribution of the Member States to its financing.

At the simplified trilogue provided for in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 17 May 2006 on the financing of the EU Solidarity Fund, an agreement was reached on the Decision on the mobilisation of the EU Solidarity Fund and on the amount as proposed by the Commission.

With respect to the other elements of PDAB No. 3/2008 included in the Commission proposal, an overall agreement was reached by qualified majority, articulated as follows:

(1) to include the content of transfer No. DEC 7/2008 in PDAB No. 3/2008 (transfer No. DEC7/2008 was rejected by the Council on 14 May 2008), so that:

the total amount of the savings (EUR 18.9 million) arising from the smaller than estimated increase for pay and pensions is budgeted for reasons of transparency through one amending budget; the financing of the Monitoring Mechanism related to the Microsoft judgement, as updated by the Commission on 22 May 2008, is budgeted from an amount of EUR 14.6 million (EUR 2.4 million on line 03 01 02 11 and EUR 12.2 million on line 03 03 02).

(2) to finance part of the appropriations needed for this Monitoring Mechanism related to the Microsoft judgement by redeploying verifiable savings (EUR 3.9 million) from budget line 26 02 01 ("Procedures for awarding and advertising public supply, works and service contracts"); the remaining financing would be covered by the savings on salaries;

(3) to reject the modification to the establishment plan of the European Institute for Gender Equality;

(4) to accept the other proposals from the Commission.

Following the adoption of this draft amending budget, the Commission entered the following statement in the minutes: “The Commission confirms the importance of ensuring a smooth process for the adoption of the decision on the mobilisation of the EU Solidarity Fund. Taking into consideration the wishes of the budgetary authority, the Commission confirms, that in the future, every amending budget required by the mobilisation of the Solidarity Fund will be solely for that purpose ”.

As a result, the Council established draft amending budget No. 3 as modified above. At the same time, the Council also adopted the Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on the mobilisation of the EU Solidarity Fund as proposed by the Commission.

09903/2008

PE405.932

PURPOSE: to present a Preliminary Draft Amending Budget (PDAB) No 3 to the EU general budget for the financial year 2008.

CONTENT: the Preliminary Draft Amending Budget (PDAB) No 3 for the financial year 2008 covers the following elements:

the budgeting of the revenue accruing from the Microsoft case; the budgeting of part of the savings arising from the smaller than estimated increase for pay and pensions in 2007, leading to a reduction of EUR 2.3 million in commitment and payment appropriations under heading 5 ; reinforcement of the emergency fund for veterinary measures due to the bluetongue crisis by EUR 130 million in commitment appropriations, and EUR 63.95 million in payment appropriations ; creation of the necessary budgetary structure to accommodate four Joint Technology Initiatives: Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), Clean Sky, ARTEMIS (Joint Technology Initiative in Embedded Computing Systems) and ENIAC (European Technology Platform on Nanoelectronics); mobilisation of the EU Solidarity Fund for an amount of EUR 98 million in commitment and payment appropriations relating to forest fires in Greece in August 2007 and floods in Slovenia in September 2007 (see ACI/2008/2091 ); modifications to the establishment plan of the European Institute for Gender Equality; modifications to the establishment plan of the European Economic and Social Committee.

CONCLUSION : the net effect of the modifications to expenditure is an increase of EUR 225.7 million in commitment appropriations, and an increase of EUR 159.6 million in payments . There will be no call for additional revenue.

COM(2008)0201
EUR-Lex

PURPOSE: to present a Preliminary Draft Amending Budget (PDAB) No 3 to the EU general budget for the financial year 2008.

CONTENT: the Preliminary Draft Amending Budget (PDAB) No 3 for the financial year 2008 covers the following elements:

the budgeting of the revenue accruing from the Microsoft case; the budgeting of part of the savings arising from the smaller than estimated increase for pay and pensions in 2007, leading to a reduction of EUR 2.3 million in commitment and payment appropriations under heading 5 ; reinforcement of the emergency fund for veterinary measures due to the bluetongue crisis by EUR 130 million in commitment appropriations, and EUR 63.95 million in payment appropriations ; creation of the necessary budgetary structure to accommodate four Joint Technology Initiatives: Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), Clean Sky, ARTEMIS (Joint Technology Initiative in Embedded Computing Systems) and ENIAC (European Technology Platform on Nanoelectronics); mobilisation of the EU Solidarity Fund for an amount of EUR 98 million in commitment and payment appropriations relating to forest fires in Greece in August 2007 and floods in Slovenia in September 2007 (see ACI/2008/2091 ); modifications to the establishment plan of the European Institute for Gender Equality; modifications to the establishment plan of the European Economic and Social Committee.

CONCLUSION : the net effect of the modifications to expenditure is an increase of EUR 225.7 million in commitment appropriations, and an increase of EUR 159.6 million in payments . There will be no call for additional revenue.

COM(2008)0201
EUR-Lex