Brussels, 21/10/2004 (Agence Europe) - During its first reading of the draft 2005 budget on 28 October in Strasbourg, the European Parliament is expected to raise funding for structural and external actions quite considerably. Following the significant reductions in July by EU Member States (first Council reading), MEPs are expected to re-establish the spending proposed in the first draft of mid-May.
The budgets committee is proposing a total budget of EUR 117.4 bn in commitment...