Brussels, 30/04/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 2 May, the European Commission is to adopt its preliminary draft budget for the year 2008, which gives priority to policies related to growth and employment (4.2% more money than in 2007), the implementation of new programmes under the Cohesion Policy, and actions to be carried out to fight climate change. Furthermore, the Commission is calling for funds to create 785 new jobs in 2008, related to the requirements of the two most recent waves of enlargement (2004 and 2007).
In its proposal, the Commission has earmarked, out of a total budget for 2008, €129.1 billion in commitment appropriations, which corresponds to 1.03% of gross national income (GNI) of the EU of 27, and an increase of 2% compared to the budget under way (2007). The envisaged total of payment appropriations is 121.5 billion EUR (0.97% of GNI), 5.3% more than in 2007.
The preliminary draft provides for an increase of 9.6%, to €10 billion, of the commitment appropriations for 2008 given over to the heading of “Competitiveness for growth and employment”. The seventh framework programme for research gets an envelope of 5.5 billion for the year 2008. Furthermore, the Commission provides 403 million for the innovation and competitiveness programme (reinforcing corporate competitiveness), and €972 million for the trans-European networks. €22 million will go to the European energy market in 2008 (€155 million from 2007 to 2013).
€46.8 billion in commitment appropriations are programmed by the Commission for heading 1b “Cohesion for growth and employment”, or 3.1% more than in 2007, including €38.7 billion in Structural Funds and €8.1 billion under the Cohesion Fund. €56.2 billion (commitments) will be given over to the “Management of natural resources” (heading 2), of which €42.2 billion will go for market agriculture expenditure and direct support, €12.5 billion for rural development, €938 million for fisheries, and 298 million for the environment. Compared to 2007 levels, the Commission has also provided +10.8% in commitment appropriations for heading 3a “Liberty, security and justice” (to €691 million), but -7.8% for commitment appropriations destined for actions under heading 3b “Citizenship” (to €497 million). For the “Actions of the EU in the world” under heading 4, the Commission plans to make €6.9 billion in commitment appropriations available (1.5% more than in 2007) and €7.9 billion in payment appropriations (+4.8%). The leeway left within the ceiling for these external actions heading is €330 million, under the preliminary draft, but may prove insufficient if the EU launches ambitious programmes in Kosovo (agreement in the pipeline on the status) and the Middle East (new developments in the peace process). (lc)