Brussels, 21/03/2007 (Agence Europe) - Thanks to the compromise obtained with the EU Council of Ministers on implementation of voluntary modulation solely in the United Kingdom and Portugal, the budgets committee of the European Parliament decided, on Wednesday 21 March, to lift its reserve on 20% of funding intended for rural development programmes for the year 2007 (EUROPE 9389). The EP had taken this initiative at the end of 2006 as it felt that the initial proposal for voluntary modulation, arising from the conclusions of the European Council in December 2005 on the financial framework 2007-2013, was in breach of budgetary prerogatives and was a threat to the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
From the practical aspect, the EP committee on budgets approved the payment of amounts that had been placed in reserve in the 2007 budget, namely €2.46 billion in commitment appropriations and €1.23 billion in payment appropriations (20% of the total aid earmarked for rural development). This transfer of funds allows all funding for rural development to be released (€12.34 billion in commitment appropriations and €6.18 billion in payment appropriations). The European Commission had explained to the EP that delays in approval and implementation of the rural development programmes for the period 2007-2013 could be caused by the fact that the funds were placed in reserve. The Commission, in fact, had contemplated approving the first programmes towards the end of the month of February or early March.
We recall that, on two occasions in November 2006 and February 2007, an overwhelming majority of the EP called for the initial proposal for voluntary modulation to be withdrawn. According to MEPs, the arrangements foreseen by the European Council could cause discrimination between farmers within the EU and open the road to “creeping re-nationalisation” of Common Agricultural Policy. With the compromise reached in the Council, the EP considers it has won a victory that is full of promise before initiating negotiations in 2008 on mid-term review of the EU budget (incoming and outgoing).
Joseph Daul, President of the EPP-ED Group, said: “The European Parliament has made a splash by overturning a very unpopular decision of the European Council. We have avoided disguised renationalisation of the CAP”. Lutz Goepel, who is rapporteur on this issue, explained that voluntary modulation without national co-funding would have been “in breach of the legal and financial obligations in force”. The EP must be “fully involved in any changes to the CAP”, Mr Goepel warned. (lc)