The European Commission have published their preliminary amending fourth budget of the general budget 2008. The plan communication COM(2008) 203 final was published on the 15th April 2008.

The present Preliminary Draft Amending Budget No 4/2008 is intended to budget the surplus resulting from the implementation of the budget year 2007. As provided for in the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities, under Article 15 § 3, it is the only subject of this PDAB and it has to be submitted within 15 days following the submission of the provisional accounts, which took place on 31 March 2008.

The implementation of the budget year 2007 shows a surplus of EUR 1 528 833 290 (excluding the net balance with EFTA-EEA), which is therefore entered as revenue in the 2008 budget.

The budgeting of the surplus will diminish accordingly the global contribution of the Member States to the financing of the EU Budget. This global decrease by Member State will also be influenced by the updated own resources forecast (TOR, VAT and GNI) including the updated amount of the UK correction.

In this way, In early June, the Commission will present, in a separate Preliminary Draft Amending Budget, updated forecasts, which are expected to change further the amounts of the contributions by country.

Last 14th April the Third budget amendment 2008 was published by the COmmission. The net effect of the modifications to expenditure is an increase of EUR 225,7 million in commitment appropriations, and an increase of EUR 159,6 million in payments. There will be no call for additional revenue.