Brussels, 28/08/2000 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is expected to present its correcting letter to the 2001 budget earlier than planned. In the letter it will formally call for the Council and Parliament to grant the increased number of posts presented end July by Romano Prodi and Neil Kinnock. While it is foreseen that the correcting letter will be adopted by the College on 13 September, Commission sources state that, as the essential and most sensitive problems concerning the breakdown of human resources, externalisation and staffing needs were settled during the last Commission meeting on 26 July, it is not necessary to wait until then. Commissioner for the Budget Michaele Schreyer is expected to receive accreditation from the College this week so that she may adopt the correcting letter, probably the following week, in agreement with President Prodi and Vice-President Kinnock.
As announced in the report from the "piloting group" on the Commission's staffing requirements, the letter will request 400 additional posts for 2001 (see EUROPE of 27 July, p.7). It will, moreover, take into account the gradual disappearance of the technical assistance bureaux (TABs) which the Commission will request for the transitional period preceding the establishment of new structures in order to be able to use part of the budget, previously intended for these offices, for the remuneration of temporary agents working within the Commission.