Brussels, 08/01/2004 (Agence Europe) - As we indicated yesterday (p 9), in the framework of the next financial perspectives, the European Commission is expected to adopt a rather more ambitious position than that of Germany, France, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Sweden and Austria. Although the latter have been quite clear that they want to limit the ceiling to 1% of Gross National Product (EUROPE 17 December 2003), the European Commission is expected to propose in its communication of 25 January a similar rate of 1.24%.
As mentioned by several Community sources, the list of Commissioners who came out for this figure during the discussion at the College on Wednesday, speaks for itself: the president of the Commission Romano Prodi and around ten Commissioners, including three responsible for structural funds; Michel Barnier, Franz Fischler and Anna Diamantopoulou. Others include, the Commissioner for economic affairs Pedro Solbes, vice president Loyola de Palacio, Antonio Vitorino, Pascal Lamy and Viviane Reding. The Commissioner for the budget Michaele Schreyer, her compatriot Günter Verheugen, British Commissioners Chris Patten and Neil Kinnock and Frits Bolkestein from the Netherlands are strongly opposed and do not want to go above the 1.15% figure.
These Commissioners see this as a question of the European Union's "political credibility", judging that the rate of 1.24% is too far from the Letter of Six for the latter to accept it. The other Commissioners would like the Commission communication to present several options, without taking a decision. An extra question is added to the debate on the budgetary ceiling: it is not yet clear whether the European Development Fund (EDF) is or not included in the figure of 1.24%.
The seminar on 25 January and the communication to be adopted the same day or the following Wednesday, will be the first stage in the debate on the future financial framework. Then, the Commission will present on 3 February its report on cohesion policy, which will be the regional chapter of the debate on EU ambitions for the years 2007 to 2013. After having heard the reactions of Member States and of the European Parliament, the European Commission will prepare its formal legislative proposals for both dossiers. The proposals of Structural Fund regulation are included in the month of May in the Commission's 2004 agenda, but the date will very much depend on the reactions to the cohesion report. The Commission hopes to present its proposal on financial perspectives "before the summer".