Strasbourg, 08/04/2003 (Agence Europe) - The risk of the European Parliament denouncing the 1999 Interinstitutional Agreement finally won over the Council which, after long delays, decided on Tuesday morning to accept the budget compromise proposal outlined by the European Commission to solve the dispute with the European Parliament which is determined to defend its budget privileges against the backdrop of the upcoming enlargement of the EU (see Europe of 4 April, p.12). After renewed failure of the three-way meeting on Monday evening, the European Commission suggested increasing the funding under heading 3 (domestic policies) by EUR 480 million (at the 1999 value), whereas the EP was calling for EUR 600 million and the Council wanted to stick to between EUR 400 million and EUR 450 million. On Tuesday morning the Council agreed to the Commission's proposal, taking account of the limited needs in 2004, the year when the new Member States will be joining (in May) but will not yet be able to participate in all the EU's programmes. The breakdown of this additional funding will be as follows (in 1999 figures): EUR 50 million in 5004, 190 in 2005 and 240 in 2006. According to forecasts by Commissioner Michaele Schreyer on Monday evening, the funding is the equivalent of EUR 540 million in terms of 2004 values, just under EUR 60 less than the amount first demanded by the EP. The agreement between the two wings of the budget authority was also facilitated by a Council statement that the amounts incorporated in Annex XV to the Accession Treaty will not affect the EP's rights in the budget procedure and negotiations over future Financial Perspectives. Aid for Turkey has been transferred from Heading 4 (external policy) to Heading 7 (pre-accession strategy), which gives the EP further room for manoeuvre. The Council acknowledges the principle of non-discriminatory allocation of funding via the new Member States' sub-ceilings and has agreed to review, in codecision with the EP in the budget procedure for 2004, the indicative sums for programmes adopted under the codecision procedure.
Before the agreement was reached, various Presidents of the EP's political groups highlighted that the EP endorse the Accession Treaty but was determined to ensure its budget privileges were respected. Graham Watson (Liberal group) said failure would have led to a budget crisis and a return to provisional twelfths (procedure whereby the budget is implemented on a month by month basis in the event of disagreement between the two wings of the budget authority, Ed). "If the Council continues like this, the next budget will be hell", warned the German Green MEP elected in France Daniel Cohn-Bendit (Greens/EFA). Hoping that a solution would be found with the Council, the German President of the EPP-ED group, Hans-Gert Pöttering, said if no solution were found, the Institutional Agreement on budget discipline would "no longer exist".
CDU MEP Reimer Böge, rapporteur for the Budget Committee for Enlargement, hailed the Council's acceptance of the budget compromise which, he said, preserved the rights of Parliament and ensured the new Member States would be treated the same as current members. He said it was a "good basis" for the European Convention's simplification of financial regulations.
In a press release, British Labour MEP Richard Corbett warns, ahead of Wednesday's vote, that "each accession country has to be approved by an absolute majority in the Parliament; 314 votes in favour - any abstention, absence or failure to vote therefore count against". He goes on: "We now face the following line-up against enlargement: far-right and far-left, assorted eurosceptics, various mavericks who are saying that they will vote against any country that has sent troops to Iraq, notably Poland, and certain individuals who claim not to like the terms of the accession treaty."