Brussels, 10/12/2004 (Agence Europe) - On the basis of the agreement reached with member states on 25 November, the European Parliament should approve the EU budget for 2005 without difficulty on 16 December in Strasbourg. The debate will be held on Tuesday 14 December.
The second reading budget amendments and the resolutions that accompany the report by Salvador Garriga Polledo and Anne Elisabet Jensen on the 2005 budget are based on the various elements of the agreement reached with the Council (cf. EUROPE, 27 November, p.6): a limit on payment appropriations of 106.3 billion EUR (a 65% rise on 2004 levels); use of the flexibility instrument (which allows the ceilings for the various EU policy budget headings to be exceeded by a maximum of 200 million EUR) to the extent of 185 million EUR (100 million for Iraq, 40 million for new community agencies and 45 million for the “PEACE” programme in Northern Ireland). A summary of the results of the Budgets Committee's work follows; these should be confirmed by Parliament in the plenary vote:
Agriculture: The EP will be obliged to accept the 1 billion EUR reduction in agricultural market spending decided by the Council. The Budgets Committee finds this regrettable and would have preferred to follow the European Commission's letter of amendment, which envisaged a reduction of 221.5 million EUR. Two pilot projects identified as priorities by Parliament will be continued in 2005: quality promotion and the creation of a financing model incorporating the risks of disease outbreaks in cattle.
Structural funding: In accordance with the agreement with the Council, the Budgets Committee has not increased payment appropriations under this heading (as it had in its first reading). However, thanks to high utilisation of these funds in 2004, the EP will insist that, if required, new payment appropriations should be made available in 2005 by means of an amending budget. A total envelope of 108 million EUR will be made available in 2005 and 2006 for the “PEACE” programme to support the Northern Ireland peace process, of which 50 million will be for the 2005 budget year (of these, 45 million will be met from the flexibility instrument).
Internal policies: financing of decentralised agencies, which have dramatically increased in number in recent years, will be met from the flexibility instrument (40 million EUR) in 2005 and through a more modest increase (14 million EUR) in the funds allocated to support programmes for small and medium sized companies. However, the Budget Committee rejected the “draconian reductions” proposed by the Council for this heading and recommended that the EP boost appropriations for the Lisbon strategy (increasing growth, creating jobs), for the fight against terrorism, and for public information). The Budget Committee thus proposes to add additional funding of 76 million EUR, of which 56 million will be for SMEs. The EP should create a new pilot project for the “fight against terrorism” with a budget of 7 million EUR. It could also allocate 17.8 million EUR for measures to fight against marine pollution as part of a European Maritime Safety Agency programme.
External action: 100 million of the 190 million EUR of reconstruction aid for Iraq will be financed via the flexibility instrument.
Pre-accession support: 120 million EUR will be assigned to the promoting the economic development of the Turkish Cypriot community. Financing for Croatia will be 105 million EUR, as envisaged by the pre-accession strategy for that country.