Brussels, 13/10/2000 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is proposing an initial plan of EUR 200 million in emergency aid for Serbia. In Biarritz on Friday, Romano Prodi presented to the Fifteen a package of measures designed to provide support for Serbia until the end of this year. Health, hygiene, heat, food and education will be at the heart of the aid measures, determined in terms of what Serbia itself presented as its "most urgent" needs, announced the Commission. Commissioner Patten noted in Biarritz that 30% to 40% of communities' expenses for energy, transport, schools and other infrastructures could be borne by the EU, through delocalised management controlled on site. The Commissioner will be visiting Yugoslavia in around 10 days and will examine arrangements for this aid with Vojislav Kostunica and other political figures.
The Commission hopes Parliament and the Council will agree to this plan next Wednesday at the three-way talks by Parliament, the Council and the Commission. The Member States seem willing to agree. For Parliament, Jean-Louis Bourlanges, rapporteur for implementation of the budget for 2000, says he is awaiting details of the proposal before submitting a decision to the Committee on Budgets. The rapporteur said he "fully shares the concern to make provision for such financing as soon as possible", but wants to be sure that "such an important cut in the emergency reserve, which is not earmarked for this purpose, can be made without major inconvenience". He also noted, for the benefit of the Council, the "legitimacy" of the requests made last year by the EP for a rise in the ceiling on external spending in the budget, since with this aid of 200 million, the "ceiling of the financial perspectives for 2000 will be exceeded, in heading 4, by 400 million".
The Commission repeated that other proposals would be made in the longer term. Its services are in the process of establishing a joint mission with the World Bank, to assess Serbia's medium and long-term needs. This will enable the Commission to check out on site and, if need be, to modify the amount of EUR 2.3 billion in aid announced in early May for the plan 2000-2006 for the Balkans. A full assessment takes time. The Council, for its part, seems to want to await the results of this needs assessment and know its cost before adopting the programme 2000-2006 for the Balkans (Cards programme) and the corresponding amounts, with the hope expressed by the French Presidency of coming to agreement on the programme prior to the EU-Balkans Summit on 24 November. The Council has so far always opposed revision of the EU's financial framework for 2000-2006, proposed by the Commission in support of its plan.
Meanwhile, debate on the budget for 2001 continues. Representatives of the EP Committee on Budgets will present to the Council and Commission, at Wednesday's three-way talks, the proposal they will put before the plenary at first reading on 24 October. The Committee on Budgets notes the "political necessity" of raising the ceiling for external policy spending. For now, it is proposing raising assistance for democratisation in Serbia to EUR 60 million and creating an additional budget heading, the amount of which is not specified, for rebuilding assistance in Serbia. Until now, the European Commission has proposed 40 million in support for democratic forces, announcing that it would propose up to EUR 200 million more, through the flexibility instrument, upon the restoration of democracy in Serbia. Without specifying when it might propose a new figure for Serbia for 2001, nor the amount, the Commission is already saying that, in the end, it does not expect to have to propose use of the flexibility instrument to this effect.