§ Mrs. SpelmanTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what volume of aid in the EU's aid budget has been unallocated in each of the last five years for(a) Africa,(b) Central America,(c) the Caribbean,(d) South America,(e) the Middle East,(f) South Asia,(g) the Far East,(h) the Central Asian Republics, and(i) Europe; and if she will make a statement on underspend in the EU aid budget. [80605]
§ Clare ShortThe European Commission organises its budget through annual commitment and payment appropriations. Regional budget lines for these funds are set out in the following table. Unallocated funds refers to any part of the initial budget that has not been committed to a project within the financial year.
The first of the following tables gives information about all overseas development assistance from the European Commission Budget for the areas requested. This information has been taken from the reports of the European Court of Auditors and appears as in the reports.
The second table gives information regarding payments from the European Development Fund (EDF). This is a non-budget voluntary fund for development programmes in Africa, Caribbean and Pacific countries which operates on a multiannual basis. The information provided has been taken from the 2001 Court of Auditors Report.
The Commission has recognised the importance of resolving the problems caused by outstanding commitments in Category 4 of the budget. It is taking steps to progressively reduce this backlog within the 203W overall reform context. This is proving to be a difficult task. We expect improvements to show once the deconcentration process has reached the majority of
Amounts and proportion of total European Commission aid unallocated between 1997 and 2001 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 Budge line and description Amount unallocated %of total Amount Unallocated % of total Amount unallocated % of total Amount unallocated % of total Amount unallocated % of total B7—3 Co-operation with developing countries in Asia, Latin America and southern Africa, including South Africa 4.6 1 37.2 5 190.0 22 103.3 11 75.3 8 B7—4 Co-operation with Mediterranean third countries and the Middle East 22.7 2 73.3 6 65.0 6 137.2 12 0.0 0 B7—5 Co-operation with countries of central and eastern Europe, the new independent States and Central Asia 31.3 2 46.3 2 0.0 0 0.0 0 38.7 3 Note:
This table gives figures for external aid from the European Commission Fund. This does not include the EFF.
Amounts in the table are given in millions of euros for all years from 1999–2001. For 1998 and 1997 amounts are given in millions of Ecu.
Source:
European Court of Auditors Report annual reports for the financial years 1997–2001.
Primary and secondary commitments from the EDF from 1997–2001 (euro million) Year Primary commitments Secondary commitments Amount unallocated Percentage of total 1997 600 950 0 0 1998 2,300 2,050 250 11 1999 2,700 1,400 1,300 48 2000 3,750 2,350 1,400 37 2001 1,550 2,250 0 0 Note:
Figures have been rounded to the nearest 50 million.
Source:
European Court of Auditors Report for the financial year 2001