17 EU Budget 2010
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11251/10
COM (10) 315
| Draft amending budget No 6 to the general budget 2010: Statement of revenue and expenditure by section: Section II — European Council and Council, Section III — Commission, Section X — European External Action Service
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| Legal base | Article 314 TFEU; co-decision; QMV
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| Document originated | 17 June 2010
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| Deposited in Parliament | 22 June 2010
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| Department | HM Treasury
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| Basis of consideration | EM of 13 July 2010
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| Previous Committee Report | None
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| To be discussed in Council | Not known
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Not cleared, further information requested
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Background
17.1 During the course of a financial year the Commission presents
a number of draft amending budgets (DAB) to change specific aspects
of the current EU general budget. These DABs normally propose
relatively minor changes to the budget, are usually uncontroversial
and are often budget neutral.
17.2 In April 2010 the previous Committee considered a draft Council
Decision to establish a European External Action Service (EEAS)
to support the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security
Policy, as provided for in the Lisbon Treaty. The personnel of
the EEAS were to be drawn from the Commission, from the General
Secretariat of the Council and from Member States' diplomatic
services. Our predecessors also considered draft Regulations to
amend, as a consequence of establishing the EEAS, the Staff Regulations,
which govern the conditions of employment of servants of the EU,
and the Financial Regulation, which governs management of the
EU general budget. These three proposals, which are still being
negotiated, were cleared from scrutiny after a debate on the Floor
of the House.[69]
The document
17.3 This DAB proposes an increase to the 2010 EU general budget
of €9.5 million (£8.1 million) to fund additional costs
arising this year from the establishment of the EEAS. The Commission's
proposal is based on the High Representative's draft Council Decision
to establish the EEAS. Recalling that the EEAS is to be guided
by the principles of cost efficiency, budget neutrality and sound
and efficient management, the Commission says that:
- transitional arrangements and a gradual build-up of capacity
will be used in establishing the EEAS;
- unnecessary duplication of tasks, functions and
resources with other structures must be avoided and rationalisation
and streamlining of existing systems should be used to the maximum;
- this is particularly important in view of the
EU-wide efforts for fiscal consolidation and constraints on public
finances;
- it is expected that one third of EEAS staff will
be composed of representatives from Member States by 2013;
- in the first year of operation, 2010, it is envisaged
that the EEAS will comprise posts transferred from the Commission
and the General Secretariat of the Council, with some additional
posts filled by Member States' diplomats;
- there are 20 such new posts foreseen at AD (administrator)
level for the EEAS headquarters in Brussels, for additional tasks
of acting as the Presidency of Working Groups and Committees that
prepare the Foreign Affairs Council, posts for the EEAS corporate
and policy boards and for creation of a small legal unit;
- these will be supplemented by an additional ten
support staff;
- in the last quarter of 2010 there is also envisaged
an additional 80 AD posts in EU delegations around the world,
including to reflect the fact that, since 1 January 2010, 60 EU
delegations have taken on a range of tasks of the local Presidency
in relation to the Common Foreign and Security Policy;
- of the 80 new posts 40 will be deployed in delegations
where there is currently no political officer, will support delegations
to multilateral organisations and 20 posts will be in upgraded
regionalised delegations and new Deputy Head of Delegation slots;
and
- these new posts will be supplemented by an additional
60 locally-recruited support staff.
17.4 Due to the complexity of creating the EEAS in-year
as a new institution, with its own budget within the EU general
budget, and transferring over to it significant appropriations
related to staff and contracts from the Commission and the General
Secretariat of the Council, the Commission proposes a special
transitional arrangement for the budgeting process for 2010:
- a section will be created in
the EU budget for the EEAS;
- the posts due to be transferred from the existing
two institutions to the EEAS will continue to remain in those
institutions' establishment plans until the end of 2010, although
will be clearly identified within those plans; and
- additional appropriations needed for new EEAS
staff will appear against the appropriate budget lines of the
Commission and General Secretariat of the Council budgets until
the end of the year.
It is envisaged that the EEAS will have its own full
budget for 2011.
17.5 The Commission notes that the establishment
plan of the EEAS in 2010 will consist of:
- 1,114 posts transferred from
the Commission, made up of 675 in headquarters and 439 in delegations;
- 411 posts transferred from the General Secretariat
of the Council, made up of 387 in headquarters and 24 in delegations;
and
- 100 new posts for Member States' diplomats, made
up of 20 in headquarters and 80 in delegations.
The Government's view
17.6 The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Justine
Greening) says that:
- the Government wants to ensure
both that the EEAS is useful to the Member States and respects
the role of national diplomatic services;
- to be effective, and to increase nation states'
ability to project themselves in the world, it is right that the
EEAS is given adequate resources to begin working as soon as possible;
and
- the Government considers that the arrangements
the Commission proposes to ensure continuity of budgeting, in
the technical sense, this year are well-advised.
17.7 The Minister continues that, in terms of the
justification given for the additional costs, the Government:
- welcomes the efforts made to
incorporate staff from all three institutional sources from the
start of the EEAS's existence; and
- will be pushing for further details about the
additional posts proposed and about their functions and distribution
around the world and for evidence that cost efficiencies and streamlining
of existing systems have been rigorously pursued.
She notes as relevant to this a reference in the
recitals in the latest text of the draft Council Decision to establish
the EEAS:
"8 (bis) the establishment of the EEAS should
be guided by the principle of cost-efficiency aiming towards budget
neutrality. To this end, transitional arrangements and gradual
build-up of capacity will have to be used. Unnecessary duplication
of tasks, functions and resources with other structures should
be avoided. All opportunities for rationalisation should be used."
17.8 On the financial implications of the DAB for
the UK the Minister, noting that it proposes an additional €9,521,362
(£8,079,828) in both commitment and payment appropriations
this year, says that:
- this will increase the overall
level of the EU budget and will therefore require increased contributions
from Member States;
- the UK's GNI share of EU budget financing in
2010 is currently estimated at 13.8%; and
- the pre-abatement cost to the UK of the proposal
in 2010 would be roughly €1,313,948 (£1,115,016).
Conclusion
17.9 We note that this budgetary adjustment is
a necessary consequence of establishing the European External
Action Service and that the Government is content with the proposal
from a technical point of view. However before we consider the
matter further we should like to hear about the further details
the Government is seeking on the additional posts proposed and
about evidence of a rigorous pursuit of cost efficiencies and
streamlining of existing systems. Meanwhile the document remains
under scrutiny.
69 (31439) 8029/10, (31445) -, (31446) 8134/10 + ADD
1: see HC 5-xvii (2009-10), chapters 1 and 2 (7 April 2010) and
HC Deb, 14 July 2010, cols. 1034-1060. Back
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