CHAPTER 6

BUDGET

Budgetary principles
Article 18
1
The budget, drawn up in euro, is the act which for each financial year lays down and authorises all the revenue and expenditure relating to common costs administered by Athena.
2
All expenditure shall be linked to a specific operation, except where appropriate for the costs listed in Annex I.
3
The appropriations entered in the budget are authorised for the duration of a financial year which begins on 1 January and ends on 31 December of the same year.
4
Budget revenue and expenditure shall be in balance.
5
No revenue or expenditure relating to common costs may be implemented other than by allocation to a heading in the budget and within the limit of the appropriations entered there, except pursuant to Article 34(5).

Annual budget
Article 19
1
Each year the administrator shall draw up a draft budget for the following financial year, with the assistance of each operation commander for his or her operation.
2
The draft shall include:
a
the appropriations deemed necessary to cover the common costs incurred in preparation for, or further to, operations;
b
the appropriations deemed necessary to cover the operational common costs for ongoing or planned operations, including, where appropriate, to reimburse common costs which have been pre-financed by a State or third party;
c
the provisional appropriations as referred to in Article 26;
d
a forecast of the revenue needed to cover expenditure.
3
The commitment and payment appropriations shall be classified in titles and chapters grouping expenditure together by type or purpose, subdivided as necessary into articles. Detailed comments by chapter or article shall be included in the draft budget. One specific title shall be dedicated to each operation. One specific title shall be the general part of the budget and shall include the common costs incurred in preparation for, or further to, operations.
4
Each title may include a chapter entitled ‘provisional appropriations’. These appropriations shall be entered where there is uncertainty, based on serious grounds, about the amount of appropriations needed or the scope for implementing the appropriations entered.
5
Revenue shall consist of:
a
contributions payable by the participating and contributing Member States and, where appropriate, by contributing third States;
b
miscellaneous revenue, subdivided by title, which includes interest received, revenue from sales and the budget outturn from the previous financial year, after it has been determined by the Special Committee.
6
The administrator shall propose the draft budget to the Special Committee by 31 October at the latest. The Special Committee shall approve the draft budget by 31 December. The administrator shall adopt the approved budget and notify the participating Member States and contributing third States.

Amending budgets
Article 20
1
In the case of unavoidable, exceptional or unforeseen circumstances, including when an operation is launched during the course of the financial year, the administrator shall propose a draft amending budget. The draft amending budget shall be drawn up, proposed, approved and adopted and notification given in accordance with the same procedure as the annual budget. The Special Committee shall discuss it taking account of its urgency.
2
When this draft amending budget results from the launching of a new operation or changes in the budget of an ongoing operation, the administrator will inform the Special Committee of the total costs foreseen for this operation. If these costs substantially exceed the relevant reference amount, the Special Committee may request the Council to approve it.
3
The draft amending budget resulting from the launching of a new operation shall be submitted to the Special Committee within a period of four months after the approval of the reference amount, unless the Special Committee decides on a longer deadline.

Transfers
Article 21
1
The administrator, where appropriate on the basis of a proposal by the operation commander, may make transfers of appropriations. The administrator shall inform the Special Committee of his or her intention, in so far as the urgency of the situation permits, at least one week in advance. However, the prior approval of the Special Committee shall be required when:
a
the planned transfer will amend the total of the appropriations provided for an operation;
or
b
the planned transfers between chapters during the financial year exceed 10 % of the appropriations entered in the chapter from which the appropriations are being drawn, as appearing in the adopted budget for the financial year on the date when the proposal for the transfer in question is made.
2
When he or she deems this to be necessary for the proper conduct of an operation, in the three months following the date of launching of the operation, the operation commander may make transfers of appropriations allocated for the operation, between articles and between chapters in the ‘operational common costs’ section of the budget. He or she shall inform the administrator and the Special Committee thereof.

Carryover of appropriations
Article 22
1
In principle, the appropriations intended to cover the common costs incurred in preparation for, or further to, operations, which have not been committed are cancelled at the end of the financial year, if not otherwise provided for in paragraph 2.
2
Appropriations intended to cover the cost of storing material and equipment administered by Athena may be carried over once to the following financial year, when a commitment to that effect was made before 31 December of the current financial year. Appropriations intended to cover operational common costs may be carried over if they are necessary for an operation which has not been fully wound up.
3
The administrator shall submit proposals for the carrying over of non-committed appropriations from the preceding financial year to the Special Committee by 15 February. These proposals shall be deemed approved unless the Special Committee decides otherwise by 15 March.
4
The committed appropriations from the preceding financial year shall be carried over and the Special Committee shall be informed thereof by the administrator by 15 February.

Anticipated implementation
Article 23
Once the annual budget has been approved, appropriations may be used to cover commitments and payments in so far as operationally necessary.