WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1586/98 by Umberto BOSSI to the Council. Italy's surplus liabilities
19. 11. 98 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 354/115 Will the Commission give details of all projects funded under the abovementioned fourth framework programme in which the Spanish slate industry took part, specifying the regions concerned, the total amount involved and the amount of Community funding? (1) OJ C 196, 22. 6. 1998, p. 55. Answer given by Mrs Cresson on behalf of the Commission (24 June 1998) The Commission is sending the information requested direct to the Honourable Member and to Parliamentís Secretariat. (98/C 354/185) WRITTEN QUESTION E-1586/98 by Umberto Bossi (NI) to the Council (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 Council 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 Council take? Answer (20 July 1998) By Decision of 1 May 1998, the Council abrogated its previous Decision concerning the existence of an excessive budget deficit in Italy (1). In the Decision, the Council notes that the Italian government deficit has been reduced to 2. 7% of GDP in 1997 and that a further reduction to 2. 5% is forecast for 1998. In addition, the Council takes note in the Decision of the new medium-term programme recently presented by the Italian Government to its Parliament planning a further reduction of the deficit to 1. 5% in 2000 and 1% in 2001. These completed or planned reductions, together with the Italian Governmentís commitment in the medium term to maintain a primary budget surplus of around 6% per annum were regarded by the Council as essential in order to maintain the government debt ratio on a sustainable downward path. The Council is required to keep track of budget developments in Italy, as in all other Member States participating in the single currency, in the context of the monitoring and evaluation of the stability plans to be submitted by those Member States in the near future. (1) OJ L 139, 11. 5. 1998, p. 15