Brussels, 06/07/2004 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament criticised on Monday evening the position taken by the EU Council of Ministers on the budget 2005 concerning ways to finance reconstruction aid in Iraq and the increase of financial allocations for common foreign and security policy (CFSP). The meeting was organised to prepare for consultation between Council and Parliament to be held on 16 July before the Ecofin Council takes a stance in first reading on the draft budget 2005.
The Committee of Permanent Representatives of the EU Member States (Coreper) is to meet on Wednesday to determine the Council's position. Coreper will take account of the agreement by qualified majority reached last week at the level of the Member States' budgetary committee. The broad lines of the agreement (which can be modified by Coreper) are as follows:
Agriculture: The majority of delegations of the budgetary committee are proposing linear reduction of one billion euro in credits for market spending to reflect the approach adopted by the Dutch Presidency for a reasonable increase in payment appropriations, which is challenged by the Parliament. Some Member States, such as France and Ireland, are also opposed. The Council should accept as such the allocation proposed by the Commission for rural development.
Structural actions: The budgetary committee accepts the commitment appropriations suggested by the Commission (EUR 42.3 billion), but suggests a reduction of EUR 3 billion in payment appropriations (from EUR 35.3 billion to 32.3 billion, including a reduction of EUR 2.4 billion for structural funds) given payment delays in this field.
Internal policy: The aim is to increase the margin available under the ceiling by making reductions for certain programmes.
External actions: This is the heading that causes the most problems. The Commission proposes to resort to the flexibility instrument to find the funds lacking under this heading to finance aid of EUR 200 million for Iraq, foreseen in 2005. At this stage in procedure, the Council is opposed to the mobilisation of the flexibility instrument and prefers to find funds by reducing many programmes (ACP countries, Balkans, Mediterranean, Asia and humanitarian aid). Such an approach is denounced by the EP which considers that the financing of aid to Iraq must not affect the EU's traditional priorities. As the new Parliament is not yet formed, the parliamentary committee on budgets has not finalised a clear stance on this issue. It only underlines the fact that it is in favour of using the flexibility instrument for an amount that is above that foreseen by the European Commission (EUR 115 million).
Compared to the initial proposal, the Council hopes to increase the CFSP budget by EUR 7.6 million in commitments and by EUR 4 million in payment appropriations in order to restore the level of the budget 2004 (EUR 62.6 million in commitments and EUR 54 million in payments).
Administrative spending: The Commission calls for the creation of 700 new posts linked to EU enlargement. The Council at this stage envisages accepting 680 posts, which is good news for the Commission. However, in order to restore the margin of security in a heading which no longer had any according to the initial proposal, the budgetary committee mainly foresaw reduction of EUR 54 million in Commission spending.
Pre-accession instruments: The volume proposed in commitment appropriations is accepted (EUR 1.8 billion). For payment appropriations, the budgets committee suggested reducing aid for Turkey by EUR 90 million (from EUR 301.5 million according to the Commission proposal to EUR 211.5 million). The Council could also decide to reduce Sapard credits by EUR 110 million (agriculture and rural development).