| dc.description.abstract | The 2001 budget was declared adopted after Parliament's second reading on 14 December 2000.It totals € 96 238 million in appropriations for commitments and € 92 569 million in appropriations forpayments. Compared with 2000 this represents increases of 3,1 7o for commitments and 3,5 7o forpayments. This leaves only a relatively small € I ll3 million margin beneath the ceilings forcommitments, bearing in mind that the heading 4 ceiling has been overshot with the application of theflexibility instrument. Appropriations for payments correspond to 1,08 7o of Community GNP and are€ 2 323 million beneath the ceiling of l,ll Vo.The appropriations for agricultural expenditure total € 43297,7 million, representing a 5,'7 7oincrease on 2000. This amount breaks down into € 38 802,7 million for market expenditure, on the basisof the updated figures proposed by the Commission in letter of amendment 212001. Following theCouncil meeting (Agriculture) on 22 November 2000, it was decided to provide an additional €40 million for fruit and vegetables, € 30 million for bananas and € 14 million for nuts. This made itpossible to include in the 2001 budget an additional € 60 million for BSE testing in Chapter B 1-3 3. Theimpact of the BSE on the beef sector in general will be assessed in the coming weeks and theCommission will be producing a preliminary draft supplementary/amending budget early in 2001.For subheading lb (Rural development and accompanying measures), the € 4 495 million adoptedcorresponds to the ceiling.Expenditure for structural operations totals € 32 720 million for commitments and € 31 57 4,4 millionfor payments. This includes € 30 005 million in commitment appropriations for the Structural Funds,the ceiling set in the financial perspective, and € 28714,4 million in payment appropriations.For the Cohesion Fund, € 2ll5million is available for commitments, as provided in the financialperspective, and € 2 860 million for payments.Appropriations for internal policies total € 6 232,16 million for commitments and € 5 854,767 millionfor payments. The margin available for the heading is only € 39,84 million and the increase over 2000is 3 7o.In accordance with the wishes of the Council and Parliament, the 2001 budget focuses on employmentwith the launch of a multiannual entrepreneurship programme for small businesses with an allocation of€ 450 million over 5 years. In 2001, € 100 million will be available for the two lines B5-5 I 0 and 5 I1. The € 3 920 million in commitment appropriations allocated to research is 8 Vo up on 2000. The totalavailable for payments is € 3 610 million. The other areas with large increases are transport (23 Vo upon 2000 with € 25,2O5 million for commitments) and the area of freedom, security and justice (up by14,9 7o at € I 13,15 million), and to a lesser extent the internal market (8 o/o up at € 159,58 million).The main feature of the 2001 budget procedure was the discussion on the financing of the stabilisationprogramme for the western Balkans. The allocations under the external action heading total €4928,672million for commitments and € 3920,997 million for payments. The increase forcommitments over 2000 is only 2,lo/o.This compares with an increase of J,67o for payments. Thebudget also provides for the flexibility instrument to be used to release € 200 million for Serbia, so that
EN]Budget 2001the real margin for heading 4 is only € 6,3 million. The flexibility instrument is mobilised for Serbia,which can receive € 240 million out of the total allocation of € 839 million for the western Balkans.This amount takes account of the restoration of democracy in Serbia and the € 75 million in advancefinancing for Kosovo, which was made possible in 2000 by redeployment within the heading. TheMEDA programme totals € 741 million, but is 20,5 7o down on 2000. The CFSP appropriations are farless than in 2000, the reason being that administrative expenditure for special envoys has beentransferred to the Council section.Appropriations for administrative expenditure total € 4904,294 million, an increase of 3,8 7o over2000 and will finance the 400 new posts for the Commission and the outside staff who will be requiredto enable the Commission to take over for the time being the work of the technical assistance officeswhich are to be dismantled.For the other institutions, the total budget is € 1 687, | 36 million. Expenditure on pensions is the part ofthe heading with the largest increase (9,6 7o). The total margin still remaining in heading 5 for 2001 isonly € 34 705 million.The appropriations for pre-accession aid total € 3240 million for commitments, the ceiling for theheading. After the start-up problems in 2000, the increase in payment appropriations is substantial, butthey are still well below the commitment appropriations. |
