Brussels, 22/10/2004 (Agence Europe) - Acting on the proposal made by Commissioner Michaele Schreyer, the European Commission is expected to adopt on Tuesday in Strasbourg, the traditional amending letter for this time of year for updating spending estimates for agriculture and international fisheries agreements for 2005. Compared to the figures quoted last May in the preliminary draft budget for 2005, the Commission is revising market agricultural spending downwards from EUR 221.5 million, to EUR 43,613 bn in total (also including commitment appropriations and payments). This leaves a margin of EUR 985 million below the ceiling for financial perspectives.
The fall in market spending is the result of economies made in particular, in three sectors: milk and dairy products (economy of EUR 367 million), sugar (reduction of 146 million) and olive oil (74 million less than originally planned). Part of these economies is offset by higher than expected spending in the cereals sector (244 million more), fruit and vegetables (87.5 million) and textile plants (30 million).
Estimates for rural development policy remains unchanged at EUR 6.841 bn in commitment appropriations and 6.279 bn in commitment payments. In total, planned funding in section 1 (agriculture and rural development) therefore stands at EUR 50.454 bn in commitment appropriations.
In order to take into account the most recent events in the area of international fisheries agreements, the Commission intends to release EUR 3.6 bn (payments) from the reserve of EUR 2.5 million (commitments) and 3.6 millions (payments).
This amending letter is expected to be signed by the Ecofin Council (Budget session) during the second reading of the draft budget for 2005, on 25 November. In comparison, the amending letter in October 2003 revised spending plans for 2004 down by more than EUR 1 bn as part of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and rural Développement.