Davydova J. A.
Donetsk national university of economics and trade named after Mikhail
Tugan-Baranovsky
CHANGES
IN EUROPEAN UNION BUDGET 2011
The general budget of the European Union is the
instrument which sets out and authorizes the total amount of revenue and
expenditure deemed necessary for the European Community and the European Atomic
Energy Community for each year.
The budget is established and implemented in
compliance with
the principles of unity, budgetary accuracy, annuality, equilibrium, unit of
account, universality, specification, sound financial management and
transparency [1].
The Union's budget consists firstly of a general
statement of revenue. This revenue is made up of own resources, deriving mainly
from customs duties, from a share of national VAT and from a national
contribution based on GNP.
The statement of revenue and expenditure is divided
into sections corresponding to the institutions.
The implementation of the EU budget observes very
specific rules. Article 317 of the Treaty on the functioning of the European
Union lays down that "The Commission shall implement the budget in
cooperation with the Member States… on its own responsibility" [2].
The division of responsibilities is therefore clear:
the Parliament and the Council decide upon the resources to be collected and
the expenditure to be effected and the Commission implements their budgetary
decisions, Member States cooperate with the Commission to ensure that the
appropriations are used in accordance with the principles of sound financial
management.
Rules and procedures for
spending EU funds include such stages [3]:
·
Step 1: Entering into a commitment.
·
Step 3: Eligibility of costs.
·
Step 4: Recovery of amounts due.
·
Step 5: Year-end reporting and the preparation of the
annual accounts.
·
Step 6: Internal audits and controls.
·
The special case of the EDF.
On 15 December 2010 the European Parliament voted the
EU budget 2011 – the first EU budget under the Lisbon Treaty. The budget 2011 foresees ˆ126.5 billion in
payments, which amounts to a 2.9% increase on 2010 [4].
Table 1. The EU budget 2011 (CA: in commitments - PA: in payments) [4]
|
Heading |
Billion Euro |
% of total
budget |
% change from
2010 |
||
|
CA |
PA |
CA |
PA |
||
|
1.Sustainable
growth |
64,5 |
53,3 |
45,5 |
+3,6 |
+11,7 |
|
1a.
Competitiveness |
13,5 |
11,6 |
9,5 |
-9,0 |
+2,5 |
|
1b. Cohesion |
51,0 |
41,7 |
36,0 |
+3,2 |
+14,5 |
|
2. Preservation
and management of natural resources |
58,7 |
56,4 |
41,3 |
-1,4 |
-3,0 |
|
2a. Direct aids & market related expenditure |
42,9 |
42,8 |
30,2 |
-2,1 |
-2,1 |
|
2b.
Rural development, environment & fisheries |
15,7 |
13,5 |
11,1 |
+0,7 |
-5,6 |
|
3.
Citizenship, freedom, security and justice |
1,8 |
1,5 |
1,3 |
+8,0 |
+3,4 |
|
3a. Freedom, security, justice |
1,1 |
0,8 |
0,8 |
+13,2 |
+10,1 |
|
3b. Citizenship |
0,7 |
0,6 |
0,5 |
+0,3 |
-3,9 |
|
4. The EU as a global player |
8,8 |
7,2 |
6,2 |
+7,5 |
-7,1 |
|
5. Administration |
8,2 |
8,2 |
5,7 |
+3,4 |
+3,3 |
|
of which Commission |
3,3 |
3,3 |
2,3 |
-8,2 |
-8,3 |
|
Total |
141,9 |
126,5 |
100 |
|
|
|
In % of EU-27 GNI |
1,13 |
1,01 |
|
|
|
So, the EU budget foresees a 14.5% increase in
payment appropriations for measures aimed at boosting economic growth (ˆ41.7
billion, heading 1b – Cohesion for growth and employment) as well as a 10.1%
increase in the area of Freedom, security and justice (ˆ813 million, heading
3a). The increase in the level of payments for Cohesion is mainly due to the
fact that many projects in regions across Europe are reaching cruising speed
and that the Commission will have more bills to pay since it co-finances these
programmes.
On the other hand, other parts of the budget
are reduced compared to 2010: agriculture and the environment (ˆ56.4 billion,
heading 2 – Preservation and management of natural resources) would decrease by
3%; citizenship (ˆ646,0 million, heading 3b) would see a drop of 3.9% and EU as
a global player (ˆ7,2 billion, heading 4) would be reduced by 7.1%. Heading 5 of the budget (administration)
remains at less than 6% of the total budget.
References: