Brussels, 12/12/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 11 December the Council obtained a political agreement, without debate, on the final compromise put forward by the Finnish presidency on the amended draft proposal on the granting of Community funding to Trans-European Networks in transport and energy. This agreement, once transformed into a common position, will be sent to the European Parliament for approval (the budgets committee approved the compromise on 30 November: EUROPE 9322). In a declaration annexed to the agreement, the European Commission reaffirmed the non cumulative principle of aid from different sources of Community funding for the same phase of a project. This principle figured in the Commission's initial proposal but not in the presidency's final compromise. In practice, if a project benefits from financial aid from, for example, structural funds for carrying out studies, it will not be able to benefit from TEN funding for the same phase. On the other hand, it will be able to benefit from TEN funds to finance its construction phase. The Commission has announced that it would be presenting orientations on how the different Community financial instruments can be combined. (dt)