Rådsmøde (økofin) 25. november 2002 - redegørelse

Annex 1 to ANNEX

The Parliament and the Council, recognising the importance of protection of animals during transport, request the Commission to submit to the budget authority an annual report by 31 May starting in 2002 on the implementation of and compliance with Community legislation and in particular on the recovery of refunds due to non-compliance with Commission Regulation (EC) No 615/1998 of 18 March 1998 laying down specific detailed rules of application for the export refund arrangements as regards the welfare of live bovine animals during transport (OJ L 82, 19.3.1998, p. 19).

The European Parliament, the Council and the Commission welcome the initiative to launch in accordance with art.37 of the IIA of 6 May 1999 pilot projects to test the feasibility of new actions, such as for example, to prepare SMEs for enlargement, the programme for the exchange of elderly people - Enea and the one on the cooperation with third countries on immigration.

The European Parliament and the Council ask the Commission to keep regularly informed on the initiatives taken for the implementation as well as an evaluation of those initiatives.

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The European Parliament, the Council and the Commission agree on the need to ensure the necessary funding for common foreign and security policy within the framework of the financial perspectives and in respect of t he provisions of the Treaty, taking into account that the development of the common foreign and security policy is a priority for the European Union.

The European Parliament, the Council and the Commission therefore agree that the budget of the common foreign and security policy should be dealt with in a transparent, efficient and operational manner.

While recalling paragraphs 39 and 40 of 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 (hereafter: "the Interinstitutional Agreement"), which remains fully applicable, the European Parliament and the Council agree the following:

10. In the event that Council foresees the adoption of a Joint Action that will require during the current financial year increased amounts on the common foreign and security policy budgetary appropriations, the Council will without delay enter into dialogue on that Joint Action with the Parliament with the aim of seeking a solution as a matter of urgency, on a proposal from the Commission, in accordance with the provisions of the Interinstitutional Agreement.

Information and consultation of the European Parliament as provided for in paragraph 40 of the Interinstitutional Agreement will respect the necessary conditions of confidentiality, in particular the Interinstitutional Agreement between the European Parliament and the Council of 21 November 2002 concerning access by the European Parliament to sensitive information of the Council in the field of security and defence policy.

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European Parliament, Council and Commission agree that the European Union will do all is necessary to obtain a seat on the board of the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. To this aim, the budgetary authority agree to provide € 42 mio in the 2003 General Budget of the European Communities. The Commission secures that the same amount as provided through the 2003 General Budget a supplementary € 42 Mio will also be provided by the European Development Fund i

In the event, that the appropriations provided for under the initial 2003 General Budget and the European Development Fund prove to be insufficient, the Commission will take the necessary actions to maintain the seat on the board.

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The Commission, Parliament and the Council share the same desire to bring the situation regarding outstanding commitments under control and to put and end to abnormal outstanding commitments. In this connection, they emphasise the fact that the amount of abnormal outstanding commitments can be reduced both by increasing payment appropriations and by paying and/or decommitting expenditure on a large scale. Potentially abnormal outstanding commitments are defined by common accord as being d ormant commitments in respect of which no payment has been made for the last two financial years and old commitments that have been in the budget for at least five financial years.

The budgetary authority notes that the Commission undertakes to submit, at the latest at the same time as the preliminary draft budget for 2004, an action plan under which all potentially abnormal items in the budget at the beginning of the 2003 financial year will be examined. This plan will set out for each of the budget headings listed below:

• the number of potentially abnormal items as at 31 December2002, together with the amounts involved;

• a schedule for examination on the following dates:

- 31 March 2003

- 31 July2003

- 31 December 2003

The budgetary authority will be notified of the outcome of the examination carried out on each of these dates and of the decisions taken on the items concerned (payment, closure, decommitment and special follow-up measures).

A working document setting out the situation as regards outstanding commitments (RAL), broken down by budget heading, will subsequently be forwarded each year to the budgetary authority at the same time as the preliminary draft budget. A second document, to be presented with PDB 2004, shall include a time-tabled plan for the elimination of abnormal outstanding commitments by the end of 2003. This document will also provide details of the action, which the Commission has taken to prevent a bnormal outstanding commitments from re-emerging in the future. Following this exercise, the budgetary authority will examine whether these goals have been achieved and what measures should be taken for subsequent years. Finally, special reference will be made to any appropriations, broken down per Member State, falling under the N+2 rule and indicate the measures to be taken.

Parliament, the Council and the Commission recognise the Commission's responsibility for implementing the Community budget (Section III) and agree that its implementation should, as far as is possible, be spread out evenly over the year and that, in particular, a pile-up of implementation operations at the end of the year must be prevented.

The Commission will endeavour to implement the 2003 budget taking into account the implementation of the 2002 budget, and, where necessary, make efforts to improve it.

The Commission will forward the implementation plan for the 2003 budget, broken down by financial perspective heading, as early as possible in the year or, at the very latest, when presenting the 2004preliminary draft budget. The implementation plan will include the implementation profiles for headings 2,3,4 and 7 of the financial perspective (for each heading as a whole) and for the budget chapters under those headings. It will also include the implementation profiles for the specific bu dgetary lines set out below and for preparatory actions and pilot projects. It will include commitment and payment forecasts for 31 March, 31 July, 31 October and for the full year.

Should implementation of one of the budget headings as at 31 July diverge significantly from the profile presented, or risk doing so, the Commission shall inform the budgetary authority, stating the reasons for the divergence and indicating the steps it intends to take in order to rectify the situation. Furthermore, the Commission will present a new, updated, implementation profile.

The Commission will also examine implementation as at 31 October, comparing it with the implementation profile, and inform the budgetary authority of the outcome.