§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development (1) what the explanation is for the[...]72.73 million excess of payment over funds committed in respect of Mediterranean projects that were financed from the Commission Budget in 2002; [161118]
(2) what the destination was of the difference between the [...]574.87 million committed and the [...]454.25 million euros paid on Asia projects that were financed from the General Commission Budget in 2002; [161112]
(3) what the destination was of the difference between the [...]520.32 million committed and the [...]474.25 million paid on Humanitarian Aid projects that were financed from the General Commission Budget in 2002; [161113]
(4) what the destination was of the [...]430.69 million difference between the funds committed and funds paid to the pre-accession from the General Commission Budget in 2002;[161107]
(5) what the destination was of the difference between the [...]333.22 million committed and the [...]181.79 million paid on Latin American projects that were financed from the General Commission Budget in 2002; [161115]
(6) what the destination was of the [...]710.65 million difference between funds committed and funds paid to the pre-accession-ISPA project that was financed from the General Commission Budget in 2002; [161109]
194W(7) what the destination was of the difference between the 505.96 million euros committed and the [...]417.31 million paid on Food Aid projects that were financed from the General Commission Budget in 2002; [161110]
(8) what the destination was of the [...]581.48 million difference between funds committed and funds paid to the pre-accession-PHARE project that was financed from the General Commission Budget in 2002; [161108]
(9) what the destination was of the difference between the [...]147.95 million committed and the [...]18.87 million paid on the pre-accession projects for Malta, Cyprus and Turkey that were financed from the General Commission Budget in 2002; [161111]
(10) what the destination was of the difference between the [...]124.18 million committed and the [...]119.26 million paid on South African projects that were financed from the General Commission Budget in 2002. [161105]
Mr. Gareth ThomasThe European Commission budget is approved annually. This approval process sets two distinct budget figures. The first is for commitments adopted and reflects the total value of all operations which the Commission expects to be approved over the financial year. The payments budget line on the other hand represents the aggregated spending forecast for the year, based on various approvals from previous years. There is therefore no one single identifiable country or thematic destination for the sum to which the questions refer.
There is no direct causal or operational linkage between the commitments and payments appropriations figures in external action or pre-accession budget lines. Individual projects or programmes may span several years from the date of commitment, stretching the spending horizon accordingly. In addition the actual rate of forecasted spend can be affected by project or programme-specific or wider external factors.