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Whereas:

(1) Following the non-renewal of the fisheries agreement between the European Union and the Kingdom of Morocco, a specific action for the conversion of the Spanish and Portuguese fleets was decided for an amount of EUR 197 million. Of this total the budgetary authority agreed on 21 and 22 November 2001 at the conciliation meeting between the Council and a delegation of the European Parliament, with the participation of the Commission, to enter EUR 27 million in the 2003 budget.

(2) The actions for the conversion of Spanish and Portuguese fleets fall under heading 2 "structural measures", sub-heading "Structural Funds" of the financial perspectives.

(3) In accordance with point 12, paragraph 2 of the Interinstitutional Agreement on budgetary discipline and improvement of the budgetary procedure, the appropriations foreseen for actions covered by heading 2 "structural measures" of the financial perspectives do not leave any margin under the ceiling.

(4) At the conciliation meeting on 25 November 2002, the European Parliament and the Council have accepted transfer No 51/2002 which provides EUR 14991760 from unused appropriations in the 2002 budget onto the line B2-2 0 0. They have also agreed to inscribe the remaining EUR 12008240 on B2-2 0 0 for the budget year 2003. This amount will be beyond the ceiling of heading 2 for 2003 and has therefore to be financed from the flexibility instrument.

(5) In particular, for the action of conversion of the Spanish and Portuguese fleets, it is then appropriate to make an exception to the general rule of the Interinstitutional Agreement, providing that: "the flexibility instrument should not, as a rule, be used to cover the same needs two years running.", HAVE DECIDED AS FOLLOWS: