Brussels, 08/11/2005 (Agence Europe) - The economy and finance ministers of EU Member States were divided on Monday in Brussels over the arrangements for financing aid in favour of ACP countries that signed the protocol on sugar and that are affected by reform of the European regime. On 19 October, the European Commission adopted a correcting letter for the 2006 draft budget providing for the release of EUR 40 million in commitment appropriations and EUR 21.2 million in payment appropriations for the ACP action plan.
The Commission suggests using the “external actions” heading (Heading 4 of the EU budget) for financing the aid. During the Ecofin Council, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Sweden called for this aid to be funded by the Common Agricultural Policy budget (Heading 1). In the opposite camp were France, Italy, Greece, Spain and Ireland who supported the Commission's proposal, objecting to scaling down agricultural payments in order to finance the ACP action plan.