Strasbourg, 19/05/2006 (Agence Europe) - Adopting by 514 to 56 with 8 abstentions the report by British Conservative James Elles on the European Commission's budget for 2007, the European Parliament said that the European Commission's annual political strategy reflected neither the urgent need for the EU to meet the challenges facing it nor the vision required to promote economic reform. The first financial year of the new budget timeframe, 2007 requires a strategic budget based on areas of foreign and domestic policy where EU funding can make a difference and ensure efficient use of money, explain the MEPs. The European Parliament shares the analysis outlined by the EU Commissioners in their document on boosting trust through action, but strongly criticises the Commission for complacency and cowardliness in defining the nature of the challenges facing the European Union. The EP says the European Commission is not paying enough attention to the huge, rapid changes underway in the global economy, particularly in China and India. Given the low upper ceilings established for the Financial Perspectives 2007-2013 (the EU's future budget), which 'lack ambition', the MEPs call for a limited number of priorities to be focussed upon, concerning: (a) the EU's role in the world - partnership and cooperation agreements, Neighbourhood Policy and pre-accession funds, development policy, democratisation and human rights, the Millennium Development Goals and the common foreign and security policy; (b) security, freedom and solidarity - foreign matters (security of energy supply, preventing and managing terrorist threats) and domestic affairs (immigration policy aiming to integrate non-EU nationals, solidarity in border management, security and protection of freedoms); and (c) internal policies - the Lisbon Strategy (growth, employment, skills, transport, research and innovation), the environment and rural development, citizens (culture and youth) and communications, adapting resources to meet European public administration objectives. On the mid-term review of the new EU budget in 2008-2009, the European Parliament says that a wholesale review of income (including the introduction of a genuine own resources system in the EU), and a wholesale review of spending (including the introduction of co-funding of direct farm payments and a change in rural development policy) will enable the EU to put its house in order.