WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1587/98 by Umberto BOSSI to the Commission. Italy's surplus liabilities
C 402/146 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 22. 12. 98 Answer given by Mr Marin on behalf of the Comission (22 June 1998) Details of developing countriesí slate exports will be sent to the Honourable Member and Parliamentís Secretariat. Sensitivity classification under the GSP is based on the product sensitivity levels for the Community market established during the Uruguay Round negotiations. (98/C 402/194) WRITTEN QUESTION E-1587/98 by Umberto Bossi (NI) to the Commission (25 May 1998) Subject: Italyís surplus liabilities The Italian Audit Court has recently opened an inquiry into the surplus liabilities in Italian public accounts. This is not the first such case to have occurred, since the Commission was initially alerted in July 1997 to the unused sums entered in the Italian State budget. The danger is that the accumulation of unused tied resources is creating a huge volume of potential expenditure which sooner or later could turn into actual expenditure, throwing the State accounts out of control. Italyís surplus liabilities amounted to Lit 94 767 billion in 1996 and over Lit 160 billion in 1997, giving a total in excess of Lit 250 billion for the two years. A high proportion of the surplus liabilities have apparently arisen on account of bookkeeping delays, whereas others are surplus appropriations, that is to say, sums earmarked to finance projects which have not yet been implemented. Can the Commission say what European limits it considers admissible? Does it not consider Italyís surplus liabilities to be unduly high? If it emerges that the above-mentioned limits are being exceeded, what precautionary measures will the Commission take? Answer given by Mr de Silguy on behalf of the Commission (15 June 1998) In the Italian budgetary procedures, the Parliament allocates funds on both a commitment and a cash basis. A difference between the two could lead to the formation of unspent budget appropriations that can be carried- over to following exercises, the so-called áresidui passivií. The Commission believes that the existence of the áresidui passivií does not represent a danger for future expenditure, as long as the Italian Parliament maintains limits to the cash budget which are consistent with the overall budgetary targets. This is indeed the approach which the Italian authorities have adopted for the next three years with the budget law for 1998. However, the Commission welcomes the intention of the Italian authorities, expressed in the Documento di Programmazione Economica e Finanziariaí for 1999-2001, adopted by the government on 17 April 1998 and endorsed by the Parliament on 13 May 1998, to close the gap between the budget in commitment terms and the budget in cash terms as of 1999. The Commission monitors the developments in the government accounts of all Member States, also according to the procedures laid down in the framework of the Stability and growth pact, effective as of 1 July 1998. The monitoring will focus on the development of the general government balance following the provisions of Article 104c of the EC Treaty which sets a reference value only to the government deficit