Brussels, 21/02/2001 (Agence Europe) - The six political priorities of the European Commission in 2002 will be "the Euro, sustainable development, governance in Europe, the Mediterranean and cooperation for development", announced the College of Commissioners by adopting on Wednesday its "Annual Policy Strategy for 2002", which should steer both the drafting of its budgetary proposals for 2002, which will be presented in May (see below), and its work programme for 2002, which will be presented at the end of the year.
This decision shows that the Commission "has a clear vision of the Union's political priorities and (…) established a direct link between its political priorities and the resources necessary to make them progress", felt Romano Prodi. "We are proposing to take three significant measures in favour of integration on the economic, social and political fields" he added. In the economic field, the priority will be that "the introduction of Euro notes and coins is a success". The Commission "will also propose measures aiming to strengthen the coordination of economic policies". In the social field, the Commission announced the continuation "of a sustainable development programme that directly answers he citizens concerns in terms of employment, the environment, food safety, social exclusion and poverty". In the political field, the Commission President put forward "the importance that the institutions of a widened Europe are legitimate, transparent and effective", by underlining that the new European governance is one of his personal priorities". The Commission also intends "to support hat development of the Union through as coherent policy establishing strong links with the regions and the neighbouring countries" while "the preparations concerning enlargement will still remain a core priority for this Commission", which will "multiply its efforts to help the candidate States to prepare for accession" while "monitoring how they implement the acquis". Furthermore, the Commission "will try to relaunch the Barcelona process to establish stronger links with our Mediterranean neighbours". Finally, in the framework of the strategy to fight against world poverty, the Commission "will concentrate its activity around measures in terms of health and education".
BSE crisis at heart of debates on Budget 2002
"The Budget 2002 should face two challenges, the political priorities fixed by the Commission and the budgetary challenges such as the BSE crisis", said Budgets Commissioner Michaele Schreyer. Ms Schreyer presented, on Wednesday, the budgetary priorities for 2002, which follow and apply the political priorities. She was speaking at a press conference devoted essentially to the financial consequences of the BSE crisis. The Commissioner felt that the complementary measures foreseen by the "Commission's seven-point programme on BSE" presented on 13 February "could, in 2001, be financed by savings in the beef sector (export subsidies, in particular) and from possible savings in other sectors" of agricultural spending. For 2002, the additional expenditure of EUR 1.1 billion would be "covered in the volume of agricultural spending". Ms Schreyer, however, warned that, depending on how the BSE crisis evolves, "it may be that the preliminary draft budget in May will have to propose savings measures in other sectors of agricultural spending" The Commissioner said that she awaited the reactions of the Agriculture Council towards the necessary agricultural savings, and did not rule out the possibility that other budget lines may have to be used for financing the BSE crisis.
Generally-speaking, the Commission's forecasts are based on the framework established by the financial perspectives, the Commissioner stressed. "Agenda 2000 allows for an maximum increase of 2.9% compared to the budget 2001" for a maximum total, in engagement appropriations, of 99.8 billion euro. The possible levels of increases are different depending on the budget's headings. For agriculture, the structural and pre-accession funds, the Commission "is considering going up to the Berlin ceiling". For internal and external policies, "the multi-annual programmes and constraints mean that the increase in relation to the previous year is low and that reserves cope with unforeseen situations are maintained". Indicated in the political priorities, the Mediterranean will be the subject of special attention, in terms of the staff necessary to carry out the projects, the Commissioner stressed. For administrative spending, "the margin of manoeuvre is proportionally greater, notably because the requirements of the other institutions are not yet known. Michaele Schreyer confirmed that the Commission was going to ask for 317 additional positions for its Administration in 2002.
The European Parliament will have a debate on the budgetary priorities in March, and the EcoFin Council will also have a debate on these priorities in March, debate that the Commissioner hopes will be detailed and substantial.