Allocating expenditure to Member States is merely an accounting exercise that gives a very limited view of the benefits that each Member State derives from the Union. The Commission continues to stress this point at every opportunity A full statement on this policy and its rationale was made in Chapter 2 of the 1998 Commission report ‘Financing of the European Union’ and in ‘Budget contributions, EU expenditure, budgetary balances and relative prosperity of the Member States’, a paper presented by the Commission to the Economic and Financial Affairs Council of 13 October 1997. The Presidency conclusions of the Berlin European Council of 24 and 25 March 1999 endorse this principle: ‘[...] it is recognised that the full benefits of Union membership cannot be measured solely in budgetary terms’ (point 68 of the Presidency conclusions).
In 2012, a total amount of EUR 126 349.3 million (i.e. 91.11 % of the total implemented EU expenditure, including EFTA contributions and earmarked revenue) was allocated to Member States. See notes in annexed tables for further details on the methodology used for the allocation of expenditure.
In total, 94 % of the EU budget is funding policies and projects in Member States and beyond the EU. The chart below provides an overview of how each country benefited from the budget and gives the relative importance compared with each Member State’s GNI for a better understanding of the figures.
In 2012, total executed EU expenditure amounted to EUR 135 851.6 million (excluding EUR 2 831.9 million of expenditure made up of earmarked revenue and including EUR 249.6 million of expenditure made up of EFTA contributions), or EUR 138 683.4 million when including earmarked revenue and that from EFTA, of which EUR 126 349.3 million (i.e. 91.1 %) was allocated to Member States and EUR 6 239.2 million to non-member countries.
Further to this, an amount of EUR 3 263.1 million was allocated to various states, in case of which the country of the final beneficiary cannot be unequivocally determined.
In 2012, EU expenditure allocated to non-member countries (i.e. EUR 6 239.2 million) concerned mainly part of ‘The EU as a global player’ (EUR 5 037.0 million), research (EUR 621.6 million), TEN (EUR 208.8 million), fisheries (EUR 97.1 million) and other (EUR 274.6 million).
The 2012 EU expenditure with undetermined beneficiary (i.e. EUR 3 263.1 million) falls into the following categories: part of expenditure under ‘The EU as a global player’ (EUR 1 650.1 million); expenditure which, by its nature, cannot be attributed to specific Member States (EUR 1 613.0 million). This concerns part of administration (EUR 488.2 million), research (EUR 838.1 million), competitiveness and innovation (EUR 111.3 million) and other (EUR 55.2 million).
Executed and allocated expenditure are actual payments made during a financial year, pursuant to that year’s appropriations or to carry-overs of non-utilised appropriations from the previous year. Expenditure financed from earmarked revenue is presented separately.
Based on the criteria used for the UK correction, i.e. all possible expenditure must be allocated, except for external actions, pre-accession strategy (if paid to the EU-15), guarantees, reserves and expenditure under earmarked revenue.
Expenditure is allocated to the country in which the principal recipient resides, on the basis of the information available in the Commission’s accounting financial system (ABAC). Some expenditure is not (or is improperly) allocated in ABAC due to conceptual difficulties. In this case, whenever obtained from the corresponding services, additional information is used (e.g. for Galileo, research and administration).
Erasmus celebrated its 25th birthday in 2012. Close to 3 million students from 33 countries and 300 000 university staff have participated in the programme, one of the most successful financed from the EU budget.
Bringing together close to 600 business support organisations from more than 50 countries, the Enterprise Europe Network has helped European small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) seize the unparalleled business opportunities of the EU single market.
With EUR 60 million in grants available per year, the Marco Polo programme supports projects enabling freight to switch from road to more environment-friendly means of transport.
Brussels Airport became one of the best served airports by rail in Europe thank to a new rail link connecting it to the major routes of the Belgian railway network and to various European cities.
The expenditure allocated under ‘Competitiveness for growth and employment’ is at the heart of the drive to turn the EU into a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy delivering high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion. Many of the flagship initiatives set out in the Europe 2020 strategy are covered under this part of the budget, including ‘Innovation union’, ‘Youth on the move’, ‘A resource-efficient Europe’, ‘An agenda for new skills and jobs’ and ‘An industrial policy for the globalisation era’. The main programmes financed under this subheading are the seventh framework programme for research and technological development (FP7), the ‘Lifelong learning’ programme (LLP), the ‘Competitiveness and innovation’ programme (CIP), the trans-European networks (TENs), Galileo/EGNOS, Marco Polo II and the ‘Progress’ programme. Other actions contributing to the goals of the priority themes of the Europe 2020 strategy concern the following fields: the internal market, statistics, financial services and supervision, the fight against fraud, taxation and the customs union.
FP7 covers the TFEU and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) and lasts from 2007 until 2013. The programme’s budget of EUR 55.5 billion represents a substantial increase compared with the sixth framework programme (41 % at 2004 prices), confirming research as a high priority in Europe.
This money is (for the most part) being spent on grants to research actors all over Europe and beyond, in order to co-finance research, technological development and demonstration projects. Grants are determined on the basis of calls for proposals and a peer review process, which are highly competitive.
In order to complement national research programmes, activities funded from FP7 must have a ‘European added value’. One key aspect of the European added value is the transnationality of many actions: projects are carried out by consortia which include participants from different European (and other) countries; fellowships require mobility over national borders. Indeed, many research challenges are so complex that they can only be addressed at European level. But there is also a new action for ‘individual teams’ with no obligation for transnational cooperation. In this case, the ‘European added value’ lies in raising the competition between scientists in fundamental ‘frontier’ research from the national to the European level.
FP7 is both larger and more comprehensive than its predecessors. It is also more flexible, with simplified procedures.
In 2012, 53 calls for proposals were concluded within FP7. A total of 17 374 eligible proposals were peer reviewed, out of which 3 089 were retained for funding, resulting in a success rate of 17.78 % on a proposal basis.
A total of 70 059 applicants took part in all eligible proposals, for a total requested EU contribution of EUR 30.78 billion, of which 14 821 applicants were retained for funding, for a total requested EU contribution of EUR 4.98 billion. The overall success rate was 21.16 % in terms of applicants. It is very close to the overall success rate of FP7 implementation during 2007–12 (22 %).
Good results have been obtained as regards the mandatory target that 15 % of the cooperation programme budget (with more than 50 % of planned resources the largest programme under FP7) should go to SMEs. In 2012, 16.4 % of this budget went to SMEs.
A total of EUR 7 853 million was spent on FP7 in 2012.
As the world’s population grows, so does the increase in the number of new cases of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) among the very young. Researchers at the EU funded project Naimit are using a genetically modified form of the bacterium Lactococcus lactis to help alter the way the disease contributes to T1DM in children. Success in this research could improve quality of life for millions of people worldwide suffering from this autoimmune disease.
The objectives of the projects are to pioneer the concept of tailored interventions with minimal immune system interference in new onset T1DM, leading to beta-cell protection and restoration, based on a solid understanding of the disease pathogenesis. This will enable experimental findings to be adopted for future clinical application.
EU contribution: EUR 10 920 800
ITER plays a major role within the Euratom framework programme. It is being built in southern France and will be jointly operated by seven partners — Euratom, China, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the United States. The ITER prototype power plant will demonstrate the production of large-scale electrical power by means of fusion technology.
In 2012, the European joint undertaking ‘Fusion for energy’ (F4E) achieved significant progress, particularly in the manufacturing of sub-components for the fabrication of the toroidal field coils, progress in the manufacturing of mock-ups and in the qualification of the new precision forming and deep welding of 60 mm-thick steel shell for the fabrication of the vacuum vessel sectors. The works on the Tokamak building foundation, the pit wall and the installation of the anti-seismic foundation pads have been concluded and made ready for the construction in 2013 of the upper reinforced concrete slab.
During the year 2012, 54 operational contracts were awarded for a total value of EUR 736 million, including, among others, large contracts with values of more than EUR 5 million.
Civil engineering and finishing works for the Tokamak complex, assembly hall and surrounding buildings, including the designing and building of heavy nuclear doors. This contract, for a value of about EUR 300 million, is the largest single contract placed by F4E so far.
Supply of the ITER toroidal field coil radial plates.
Site infrastructure works comprising the detailed design, construction and testing of vacuum systems for industrial and sanitary drainage, gravity rainwater drainage, trenches, ducts, concrete galleries, concrete foundations for equipment, roads, footpaths, external lighting, fencing and site-wide earthing grid.
A total of EUR 222.2 million was spent on ITER in 2012.