Decisions taken by the Commission at its
1684th meeting on Wednesday 22 December 2004[1]
1. / Budget
· / Allocation of human resources and decentralised administrative expenditure (global envelope) for 2005
(SEC(2004)1602/5)
Following the approval of the General Budget for 2005 by the European Parliament, the Commission adopted a Communication whereby it allocates the new posts which the Budgetary Authority will put at its disposal within the framework of the 2005 budget. The Commission has also approved the job quotas of its services on the first of January 2005.
· / Allocation of human resources for reform following implementation of Regulation 1746/2002 (early retirement – third round)
(SEC(2004)1600)
The Commission adopted a Communication which allocates to the services concerned the 194 posts stemming from the third round of the early retirement scheme decided by the Council in its Regulation no. 1746/2002 of 30 September 2002. In this communication, the Commission applies, for the third and last time, the methodology stipulated with regard to the implementation of the Council regulation above referred, while respecting the budgetary neutrality.
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2. / Economic and financial affairs/Statistics· / Recommendation for a Council Decision in accordance with article 104(8) of the Treaty concerning Greece
(SEC(2004)1622/3)
Following a Council decision in July 2004 asking the Greek authorities to put an end to the excessive deficit situation, the Commission has examined the measures taken by this Member State in response to the Council’s injunction. Considering that Greece has taken no effective action within the deadline set by the Council, the Commission recommends the latter to take a decision stating this fact.
· / Recommendation for a Council Decision in accordance with article 104(8) of the Treaty concerning Hungary
(SEC(2004)1621/4)
Following a Council decision in July 2004 asking the Hungarian authorities to put an end to the excessive deficit situation, the Commission has examined the measures taken by this Member State in response to the Council’s injunction. Considering that Hungary has taken no effective action in response to the recommendation of the Council within the period laid down, it recommends the Council to take a decision stating this fact.
· / Communication concerning the action taken by the authorities of the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Malta, Poland and Slovakia in response to the Council recommendations under the excessive deficit procedure (article 104 § 7 of the Treaty)
(SEC(2004)1630/2)
In July 2004, the Council took a decision according to which an excessive deficit existed in the five Member States in question and enjoined them to put an end to this situation. After having examined the measures taken by these Member states in response to the recommendations, the Commission does, at present, not find it necessary to take further measures within the framework of the Excessive Deficit Procedure.
· / Communication to the European Parliament and to Council: “Towards a global governance strategy for fiscal statistics”
(COM(2004)832 final)
With the aim of strengthening the quality of fiscal statistics used in particular within the framework of budgetary surveillance, the Commission has adopted a communication which develops three lines of action relating to the development of the legislative framework, to the improvement of the operational capacities of Eurostat and of the Directorate General “Economic and Financial Affairs” and, finally, to the establishment of European standards on the independence of national statistical institutes. The corresponding legislative proposals will follow in the next months.
3. / Coordination of Commission policies
· / Functioning of the Commission and internal coordination
(SEC(2004)1617/2 and /3)
The Commission approved a communication describing the principles which should govern its work as a College. The aim is in particular to strengthen collegiality, to give political guidance at the early stages of the process of preparing legislative proposals, as well as to ensure the political coherence and the high quality of adopted proposals. New momentum is also given to the use of Groups of Members of the Commission to prepare the work of the College and to provide policy input and guidance. The Groups which have been created are as follows:
- The Lisbon Group
- The Competitiveness Council Group
- The External Relations Group
- The Fundamental Rights, Anti-Discrimination and Equal Opportunities Group
- The Communications and Programming Group.
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[1] Au fur et à mesure de la disponibilité des versions linguistiques, les textes des documents dont les références sont citées sont mis sur le site EUR-LEX (http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/fr/com/index1.html).