Proposition 52K2447

Projet de loi contenant le cinquième ajustement du Budget général des dépenses pour l'année budgétaire 2009.

General information ¶

Submitted by

CD&V Leterme Ⅱ

Submission date

Feb. 25, 2010

Official page

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Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

budget national budget

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

CD&V LE PS | SP Open Vld MR

Voted to reject

Groen Ecolo N-VA LDD FN VB

Abstained from voting

Vooruit

Party dissidents ¶

• Peter Luykx (CD&V) voted to reject.
• Thérèse Snoy et d'Oppuers (Ecolo) abstained from voting.

Contact form ¶

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Discussion ¶

April 1, 2010 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

Mr. Speaker, the discussion was relatively brief for this fifth adjustment of the general budget of expenditure for the financial year 2009.

by Mr. Secretary of State Melchior Wathelet, when presenting his proposal, indicated that the bill had been submitted late to Parliament for technical reasons.

The law of May 2003 on the organization of the budget of the state accounting entered partially into force on 1 January 2009 for five transversal departments. The application of these new provisions, in particular the expression of the expenditure in legal terms recorded, resulted in the December salary of the officials of five departments having to be credited to the budget of the current year, i.e. 2009.

This adjustment of the 2009 budget, however, was neutral from the standpoint of the European System of Economic Accounts. That is why a correction had to be made to the accounts of the pilot SPFs of the FEDCOM project to not account for 13 months of salary in 2009.

The Secretary of State also insisted in the committee that these adjustments did not alter the final results of the 2009 budget in terms of the SEC.

The main and almost the only speaker in this committee was Meyrem Almaci, who referred to the Court of Auditors’ comment on the new clearance of the basic allocation. In fact, it emphasized that the new ventilation constitutes a violation of the legal principle of budgetary speciality. The interviewer also observed that this was not an isolated case both with regard to the 2009 budget and the 2010 budget and questioned the Secretary of State in this regard.

The Secretary of State stresses that the implementation of the FEDCOM project will ensure better traceability of each budget amount, which can only strengthen the proper application of the principle of budgetary stability.

Ms. Almaci also asked a few questions: first, on whether we will not know in 2010 the repeat of this situation; then, technical questions on the exact outcome of the budget for the financial year 2009 to which a supplementary answer from the Secretary of State dated 24 March was given, including only a small variation of 0.1% concerning the entities 2, i.e. the Regions; and finally, a question on whether the contribution of the energy sector for 2009 had been paid, question still in the plenary session by a colleague, to which a affirmative answer was confirmed by the Secretary of State.

Articles 1 to 4 were adopted by 9 votes for and 3 abstentions.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to make another small comment, without returning to my discussion in the committee. This is an adjustment for 2009. That year is of course over. That may be a small detail for this majority, but I wonder how one would react if local or other governments subsequently adjust the budget of a year already over?

This, in my opinion, technically extends the boundaries of good budget management quite far. I hope this will not be repeated in the future. I hope that one does not make adjustments again a year later or even longer later for a year that is already over.

Mrs Almaci, as explained in the committee, this does not change the ESER accounting capacity of the State. It is simply, as Mr Flahaux said in his excellent report, an adjustment of the budget. This is the fifth budget adjustment, but it was already taken into account for the ESER accounting proposed at the beginning of 2010, i.e. just after the end of 2009.