EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Brussels, 19.10.2015

COM(2015) 545 final

DRAFT AMENDING BUDGET No 8
TO THE GENERAL BUDGET 2015

OWN RESOURCES
EUROPEAN DATA PROTECTION SUPERVISOR

Having regard to:

–the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 314 thereof, in conjunction with the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community, and in particular Article 106a thereof,

–the Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the Union 1 , and in particular Article 41 thereof,

–the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2015 adopted on 17 December 2014 2 ,

–the amending budget No 1/2015 3 , adopted on 28 April 2015,

–the amending budget No 2/2015 4 , adopted on 7 July 2015,

–the amending budget No 3/2015 5 , adopted on 7 July 2015,

–the amending budget No 4/2015 6 , adopted on 7 July 2015,

–the amending budget No 5/2015 7 , adopted on 7 July 2015,

–the amending budget No 6/2015 8 , adopted on 14 October 2015,

–the amending budget No 7/2015 9 , adopted on 14 October 2015,

The European Commission hereby presents to the European Parliament and to the Council the Draft Amending Budget No 8 to the 2015 budget.

CHANGES TO THE STATEMENT OF REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE BY SECTION

The changes to the statement of revenue and expenditure by section are available on EUR-Lex ( http://eur-lex.europa.eu/budget/www/index-en.htm ). An English version of the changes to this statement is attached for information as a budgetary annex.

TABLE OF CONTENT

1.    Introduction    

2.    Own Resources    

2.1.    Traditional Own Resources    

2.2.    VAT and GNI own resources balances    

2.3.    Other Revenue    

2.4.    GNI own resources contributions    

3.    European Data Protection Supervisor (Section IX)    

1.Introduction

Draft Amending Budget (DAB) No 8 for the year 2015 concerns the following:

–A revision of the forecast of Traditional Own Resources (customs duties),

–The budgeting of the remainder of the 2014 VAT and GNI own resources balances,

–The budgeting of the 2015 VAT and GNI own resources balances,

–An update of the forecast for other revenue,

–A reduction of EUR 123 474 in both commitment and payment appropriation in the budget of the European Data Protection Supervisor.

The overall impact in terms of revenue, is a decrease in the GNI based contribution of EUR 9.4 billion.

2.Own Resources

In accordance with Article 16 of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1150/2000 of 22 May 2000 10 , the Commission has revised the forecasts for own resources. This refers in particular to traditional own resources and to VAT (value added tax) and GNI (gross national income) balances.

2.1.Traditional Own Resources 

The Commission proposes to increase Traditional Own Resources (TOR) by EUR 800 million in chapter 12 of revenue to reflect the trend in custom duties made available to the budget up to now. If new data for the last quarter of the year imply significant changes to this estimation, the Commission might revise its figures in the course of the budgetary procedure.

2.2.VAT and GNI own resources balances

Remainder of the 2014 VAT and GNI balances

In November 2014, the Commission calculated the VAT and GNI balances for the year 2013 and previous years. In principle, these balances should have been entered into the own resources account on the first working day of December 2014. Given the fact that these balances were exceptionally high (9.5 billion EUR) and on the basis of the Commission's proposal, the Council adopted on 18 December 2014 Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1377/2014 11 which allowed retroactively Member States, under certain conditions, to defer making available the amounts of VAT and GNI balances until the first working day of September 2015.

Member States wishing to benefit from a deferred making available transmitted before the first working day of December 2014 a formal request with a payment schedule to the Commission. On this basis, 6 Member States deferred their payments until 2015.

On 17 December 2014 the European Parliament and Council adopted AB5/2014 12 , which integrated the VAT and GNI balances made available in 2014 in the budget 2014 for an amount of about 4 billion EUR.

By 1 September 2015, all deferred payments of the VAT and GNI balances were made available. Therefore, the Commission proposes to enter an amount of EUR 5 723,9 million (a negative amount of EUR 211 million for the VAT balances in chapter 31 and a positive amount of EUR 5 934,9 million for the GNI balances in chapter 32).

2015 VAT and GNI balances

For the first working day of December 2015, Member States have to make available the VAT and GNI own resources balances for 2014 and earlier years. As far as the VAT and GNI own resources balances of previous years are concerned, and on the basis of the available information, the Commission proposes to enter an amount of EUR 18, 2 million for the VAT balances and of EUR 1 391,2 million for the GNI balances, having a global impact of EUR 1 409,4 million, which reduces the Member States' GNI contributions accordingly 13 . This positive amount relates to chapters 31 14 and 32 15 of the revenue side of the budget.

At this stage the calculations for Member States' balances are still provisional because of the on-going verification of VAT and GNI data. This may lead the Commission to revise the figures in the course of the procedure for this DAB.

2.3.Other Revenue

Taking into account the amounts that at this stage of the year are cashed or will probably be cashed, it is proposed to increase the initial forecasts by a net amount of EUR 1 470 million. The detail by line is shown in the table below.

2.4.GNI own resources contributions

Taking into account the revised forecasts for traditional own resources, VAT and GNI balances, the increased other revenue, as set out above, and the decreased payment appropriations for the European Data Protection Supervisor, the resulting overall impact on Member States' GNI contributions of this DAB 8/2015 is a decrease of EUR 9 403,4 million.

3.European Data Protection Supervisor (Section IX)

In accordance with article 41(2) of the Financial Regulation, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) has requested that the Commission present a draft amending budget on its behalf. The purpose is to reduce by EUR 123 474 both commitment and payment appropriations (non-differentiated expenditure).

The selection procedure of the new European Data Protection Supervisor and the Assistant was not completed when preparing the draft budget for year 2015. Therefore, it was decided to take a prudent approach and request the necessary appropriations to cover for the most expensive scenario, i.e. the replacement of both EDPS members. Finally, the former Assistant EDPS was appointed as the new EDPS, and consequently a part of the temporary allowances will remain unused (EUR 56 160).

Further to amending budgets adopted by the Management Board of the Translation Centre, a total of EUR 67 314 was reimbursed to the EDPS this year. This extra assigned revenue was not foreseen in its estimates, and will reduce accordingly the need for fresh appropriations. As a result, on the basis of the principle of sound financial management, the EDPS considers that it should be given back to the EU general budget.

(1) OJ L 298, 26.10.2012, p. 1.

(2) OJ L 69, 13.3.2015, p. 1.

(3)  OJ L 189, 17.7.2015.

(4)  OJ L 261, 7.10.2015.

(5)  OJ L 261, 7.10.2015.

(6)  OJ L 261, 7.10.2015.

(7)  OJ L 261, 7.10.2015.

(8)  OJ L XXX, XX.XX.XXX.

(9)  OJ L XXX, XX.XX.XXX..

(10)  OJ L 130, 31.5.2000, p. 1.

(11)  OJ L 367, 23.12.2014, p. 14.

(12)  OJ L 73, 17.3.2015, p. 468.

(13)  The budgeting of this amount is intended to counterbalance the financial impact for the Member States for the VAT and GNI balances they have to make available on the first working day of December 2015.

(14)  Balances and adjustment of balances based on VAT for the previous financial years resulting from application of article 10(4), (5) and (8) of Regulation (EC, EURATOM) No 1150/2000.

(15)  Balances and adjustment of balances based on gross national income/product for the previous financial years as a result of the application of article 10(6) to (8) of Regulation (EC, EURATOM) No 1150/2000.