Brussels, 20/01/2004 (Agence Europe) - In a backdrop to the Ecofin Council meeting on Tuesday in Brussels, the German finance minister, Hans Eichel, called on the European Commission, which is putting the final touches to the communication on the next financial perspectives to take into account the letter signed by the six Member States (including his own), demanding an EU budget limit of 1% of Gross National Product (GNP). He called on the Commission to "not leave this letter in a draw" (p 11 on Prodi's ideas). The German minister affirmed that four other countries, Italy, Ireland and Slovenia were ready to coin the club of six as they were receptive of the ideas outline in the letter.
Reacting to Austria's declarations on the need to create a European tax (in the form of a tax on kerosene), Mr Eichel said that the debate at this stage did not have any sense as the current problems concerned expenditure in the Community budget and not income.