Brussels, 12/12/2005 (Agence Europe) - In a letter sent to Tony Blair on 12 December, the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, has presented his red lines ahead of the final round of negotiations on the financial perspectives 2007-2013. Starting from the principle that the first proposal of the UK Presidency is unacceptable, Mr Barroso calls upon Mr Blair to agree to an "additional and permanent" change to the British rebate, and a "significant" increase in EU expenditure, particularly for the new Member States. Like most of the Member States, the Commission President believes that the British rebate is the key to an agreement at the summit on Thursday and Friday. Presenting the contents of his letter to the press, Mr Barroso said on Monday that an agreement is "urgent and necessary", and that failure "is not an option".
In his letter (a copy of which has been sent to the President of the European Parliament and to all the other Member States), Mr Barroso stresses that "this week, the Union has the opportunity to take a decisive step forward for Europe", and says that he is convinced that the EU will have the courage and imagination necessary to show that it is capable of resolving "the most sensitive of dossiers". He also points out that the financial perspectives constitute a "shared responsibility of the three institutions" and lays out the six principles which, he believes, "the final agreement must respect", and on which the Commission's position is based.
Ambition: Mr Barroso reiterates the fact that he had been disappointed by the level of expenditure put forward last June by the Luxembourg Presidency. However, "you have proposed to cut that further. I do not believe that this is a credible approach to deliver a modern, dynamic, open and fair EU", Mr Barroso explained. The final agreement should, in his view, include a significant increase in total expenditure, laying emphasis on elements to support a modern programme in favour of growth and employment. Furthermore, the revision clause should keep in place the possibility of even greater ambition in future.
Fairness: “ the new Member States need to be offered significantly higher levels of investment than in the current proposals", Mr Barroso underlines, adding that "it should be up to them to prove that they can absorb these amounts". Then, for reasons of "fairness in the sharing of the financing of an enlarged EU", London should "make a further change" to its rebate. "Since enlargement is permanent, so should be this change", said Mr Barroso.
Modernity: Mr Barroso repeats one of his five proposals of 20 October (made to relaunch the negotiations), which is to increase the proportion of cohesion expenditure directly devolved upon competitiveness. He pleads "to avoid a reversal of the modernisation of the agricultural policy agreed on in 2003", and to avoid excessively large reductions in expenditure for rural development. It also asks for the sums proposed in July for the citizenship programmes (heading 3B) to be reinstated, and to devote a proportion of the resources to external policies", including a fixed proportion from the neighbourhood policy, to the issue of migration on the borders of Europe.
Coherence: we must "avoid different policies for different parts of the Union, old and new", said Mr Barroso, who criticises the fact that the current compromise presents a cohesion policy for the Fifteen which is focused on competitiveness, and another for the new Member States which has more to do with subsidies from another age. "Eligibility rules need to be the same for all Member States".
Flexibility: in its resolution on the financial perspectives, the European Parliament put forth ideas on flexibility, which, in the view of Mr Barroso, "require serious attention". The Commission's approach to the Globalisation Adjustment Fund, the funding of which is external to the headings of the financial perspectives and which takes its inspiration directly from that of the Solidarity fund, "also goes in the direction of helpful flexibility", said Mr Barroso.
Value for money and proper management: Mr Barroso is opposed to the voluntary modulation proposed by the Presidency (whereby a country can spend up to 20% of its agricultural aid on rural development programmes). He believes that such a mechanism could harm the single market for agriculture, by bringing in unfair conditions between the Member States. He therefore pleads in favour of an improved obligatory modulation, as proposed by the Commission on 20 October (acceleration of the modulation at a rate of 1% a year as of 2009). Mr Barroso reiterates his opposition to reductions of administrative expenditure. "This is a false economy which I cannot accept. It would delay the process of bringing our institutions up to speed with the last enlargement, and leave nothing left for Bulgaria and Romania", writes Mr Barroso.
Mr Barroso points out that the final agreement requires the approval of the European Parliament. With this in mind, he recommends "greater openness to the input of the European Parliament". For example, Mr Barroso supports the proposed Statement of Assurance of the Member States on the budget. It also calls for the speedy adoption of the improvements proposed to the financial regulation. "We must devote all our energies to finding a deal which respects these principles and allows the EU to move forward. I am therefore asking you to take account of the above proposals in the days ahead", concludes Mr Barroso.