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 appropriations and payment appropriations of EUR 11.5 bn, which compared to the Council's first reading, represents an increase of EUR 1.4 bn for commitment appropriations and EUR 6.2 bn for payment appropriations. These increases are justified by the need to "plan the budgets necessary for attaining the stated goals", according to rapporteur Salvador Garriga Polledo (EPP-ED, Spain).
Agriculture: the budgets committee is suggesting that the amounts proposed in May by the Commission are re-established and which the Council had reduced by more than EUR 1 bn. It is even authorising a small increase in rural development funding for reinforced action supporting young farmers.
External action: compared to the Council's first reading, the EP is expected to increase funding for structural actions by EUR 3.8 bn (including 1.9 bn for Objective 1, 1 bn for Objective 2, 395 million for Objective 3 and 333 million for "Community initiatives". The EP can be reassured about its position by the effective execution of credits for structural funds.
Internal policy: the budgets committee points out that there is no margin in this section to allow for financing of all the decentralised agencies. It states that during the setting out of the ceilings for the different sections in 1999, there was no provision for the mushrooming of the different agencies (today there are 23 of them compared to the 7 six years ago), with the repercussions this could have on staffing levels (2695 posts have been counted, with 418 new posts being requested for 2005). MEPs consider that funding in this area may mean compromises being made in the funding of other priorities. Although the budgets committee is eager that these agencies work well, it hopes that their funding is subject to an agreement with the Council at a later stage.
External actions: once again the most difficult negotiations will later be played out with the Council. The budgets committee will be proposing to the EP that it mobilises the competition flexibility instrument to the tune of EUR 190 million (this mechanism allows the ceiling in a given section to be superseded) in order to fund reconstruction aid for Iraq in 2005. The Council imposed some obvious cuts in the numerous external policy programmes in an effort to keep a margin beneath the ceiling and therefore avoid having to use the flexibility instrument. The parliamentary committee has reaffirmed its opposition to new commitments being funded (for example in Iraq) to the detriment of priorities made earlier, such as humanitarian aid or the fight against poverty. This is why it wants to use the flexibility instrument for funding aid to Iraq without having to reduce its traditional goals.
Administrative spending: the budgets committee is calling on all institutions to make economies to respect the section ceilings. Problems are in fact being dealt with, such as, according to certain sources the increased expenditure in civil servants' salaries, which will be 0.7% instead of the Commission's 2.6% contained in its initial draft budget, which will allow for economies of more than EUR 40 million in 2005. This new data will, however, have to be integrated into the budget a little later on in the procedure (November of December). The budgets committee is also planning to allocate funding to create 700 new jobs requested by the Commission but it wants to keep back funding in reserve for 150 jobs. Funding could be released on the condition that the Commission fulfils certain conditions, including the increase in financing of the "Infopoint" offices.