General budget of the European Union for the financial year 2006.

Abstract

The 2006 budget was adopted on 15 December 2005 with the European Parliament’s second reading. The total level ofcommitmentappropriationsamountstoEUR121 190million,whichrepresentsanincreaseof4.5 %on2005.Paymentappropriations increase by 5.9 % to EUR 111 969 million, which represents 1.01 % of the gross national income (GNI)of the European Union. The margins remaining below the ceilings of the financial perspective are EUR 2 505 million forcommitments and EUR 7 323 million for payments.Foragriculture and rural developmentcommitments amount to EUR 51 051 million, leaving a margin ofEUR 1 567 million under the ceiling. Payment appropriations increase by 5.2 % compared to 2005 to a level ofEUR 51 991 million. During the budgetary process, an adjustment to the sub-headings of the financial perspective wasagreed, allowing for modulation of funds from sub-heading 1a agricultureto sub-heading 1b rural development in linewith the last reform of the CAP. Of the total commitments under Heading 1, EUR 7 771 million is for rural developmentmeasures, with payments at EUR 7 711 million.Forstructural operations, commitments increase by 5 % on 2005 to EUR 44 555 million. Payment appropriationsamount to EUR 35 640 million, which is an increase of 10 % compared to 2005. Inaddition, in accordance with thedeclaration agreed at the trilogue of 30 November, if the Commission becomes convinced of a shortage in paymentappropriations, it will present a preliminary draft amending budget to the budgetary authority, which should be decidedon in a single reading.Commitment appropriations forinternal policiesamount to EUR 9 373 million. This is an increase of 2.4 % on 2005,and leaves a margin of EUR 12 million under the ceiling. Payment appropriations increase by 10.9 % to EUR 8 889 mil-lion. The budgetary authority agreed to increase the financial envelope for a number of co-decided programmes, whichare in their final year, for a total amount of EUR 100 million. The emphasis is on measures to encourage economicgrowth, environmental protection, and encouraging active citizenship,especially among Europe’s young people, thuscontributing to the Lisbon strategy.Forexternal actions, commitments increase by 5.9 % to EUR 5 544 million, and payments decrease by2%toEUR 5 369 million. Of this, EUR 275 million is to be financed outside Heading4 by recourse to the FlexibilityInstrument. This amount is broken down as follows: EUR 100 million for reconstruction in Iraq (out of a total amount ofEUR 200 million); EUR 95 million for aid to the regions affected by the tsunami (out of a total amount of EUR 180 mil-lion); EUR 40 million for support to the Sugar Protocol countries affectedby reform in the EU sugar sector; andEUR 40 million for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP).Foradministrativeexpenditureboth commitment and payment appropriations are set at EUR 6 656 million, which isan increase of 5.8 % on 2005. A total of new 800 posts are created, of which 700are related to the last enlargement, and100 are intended for external staff in order to prepare the accession of Bulgaria and Romania. The preparation for future enlargements will continue, in line with the roadmaps agreed for Bulgaria and Romania.Turkey and Croatia will also continue to benefit from the pre-accession strategy funding. An overall amount ofEUR 2 481 million is programmed in commitments forpre-accession strategy (heading 7), which represents anincrease of 19.2 % on the 2005 budget, but still leaves a margin under the ceiling of EUR 1 085 million.In accordance with the political agreement that the new Member States should not become net-contributors to thebudget at this early stage of their membership,compensationof EUR 1 074 million is foreseen under Heading 8. Thiswill be available as transfers to the new Member States to balance their budgetary receipts and contribution