Brussels, 15/10/2001 (Agence Europe) - At the tripartite budget meeting at Monday lunchtime, the two arms of the Budgetary Authority decided to mobilise a total of EUR 40 million from the emergency reserve for humanitarian aid for Afghanistan, Chechnya and Palestine (see EUROPE of 13 October, p.12), broken down as follows: EUR 25 million for Afghanistan, 7.5 million for Chechnya and 7.5 million for Palestine. The Budgetary Authority did not accept the initial proposal put forward by Commissioner Michaele Schreyer, whereby EUR 40 million would be taken from the emergency reserve, for Afghanistan (EUR 25 million) and Chechnya (EUR 15 million), and EUR 10 million from the 'fisheries agreements with third countries' heading for Palestine. Council and Parliament refused to accept this redeployment of EUR 10 million for Palestine.
The Commission also informed the EP and the Council about how it hopes to find the EUR 120 million needed from the 2001 and 2002 budgets (50% from each) for the Community contribution to the overall United Nations fund to combat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria that was set up in April 2001 by Kofi Annan. The Commission proposes to use the EUR 50 million from the current budget from credits originally planned for the Fisheries Agreement with Morocco and EUR 10 million for programmes in Latin America. The 60 million to be found in 2002 would come from the European Development Fund. Parliament signalled that it cannot accept the use of credits for Latin America, and the two arms of the Budgetary Authority agreed to examine the dossier again in November.
The Budget Committee will adopt on Monday afternoon the report by Carlos Costa Neves (EPP-ED, Portugal) on the first reading of the 2002 budget by Parliament (scheduled for the 24/25 October plenary in Strasbourg), and the MEPs who attended the tripartite meeting outlined the Committee's position: 1) for Heading 1 (Agriculture) the Budget Committee is refusing to accept the Council's across-the-board reductions, wanting to re-establish the level of credits included in the Preliminary Draft Budget (PDB) for most of the market expenditure. In terms of the additional credits required to deal with the BSE and foot and mouth fever crises, Ms Schreyer commented that by 30 October, the Commission would be adopting the letter of amendment reassessing agricultural and fisheries agreement needs, stressing that there was a margin of around EUR 1 billion; 2) for Heading 4 (external actions) the Budget Committee criticised the fact that the total of credits available in 2002 is lower than in 2001 (because in 2001 there were an additional EUR 200 million for the Balkans channelled through the flexibility instrument) and proposes to eliminate the difference by restoring the level of credits included in the 2001 budget for 2002 as well; 3) for administrative expenditure the MEPs hope to re-establish the credits included in the PDB, stressing that the "margin" left by the Council does not cater for needs arising from preparations for enlargement. Moreover, Parliament wants to incorporate in the reserve the total of the credits for creating the new positions requested by the Commission, only some of which were accepted by the Council (78 out of 317 positions) on its first reading. Parliament has not officially requested a review of the financial perspectives although it drew attention to the fact that the existing ceilings, particularly for external activities and administrative expenditure, are no longer high enough to cover traditional needs and leave a margin for spending required for exceptional events.