Brussels, 16/07/2008 (Agence Europe) - In Brussels on Thursday 17 July 2008, EU economic and finance ministers at the ECOFIN Council will have their first reading of the EU's draft budget for 2009, chaired by Eric Woerth, the French budget, public accounts and civil service minister. The ECOFIN Council is expected to endorse without any problem its experts' preliminary work, in other words a €1.7 billion reduction in payment appropriations and a €469.4 bn cut in commitment appropriations on the figures put forward by the European Commission in order to achieve a realistic budget, respecting budget discipline and good financial management. According to the outcome reached by the Committee of Permanent Representatives to the EU (COREPER), the draft EU budget for 2009 should total at the first reading stage €133.9 billion in commitment appropriations (2.8% more than in the 2008 budget) and €114.9 billion in payment appropriations (4.7% less than in 2008, the equivalent of only 0.89% of EU gross national product).
A European Parliament delegation will meet with the EU ministers for their customary meeting to discuss the draft EU budget. This first reading by the Council of the draft budget for 2009 is uncontroversial at the moment. The EP is expected to protest once again about blind cuts in appropriations by the member states and defend its priorities, namely funding for cohesion (the EU Structural Funds and Cohesion Fund) and external action. EU Budget Commissioner Dalia Grybauskaite will argue the case for her initial draft (the preliminary draft budget), noting that the Council has agreed to the European Commission's request for 250 new members of staff while reducing certain administrative spending.
In terms of aid for Kosovo, the European Commission points out that more than €400 million had already been earmarked for 2008-2010. For the 2009 budget, the Commission called for €131 million (up from €105 in 2008) and following the recent international donor conference for Kosovo, the Commission will adopt a letter of amendment to increase EU funding for Kosovo by €100 million in 2009. The Council has foreseen an increase in commitment appropriations on the preliminary draft budget of a total of €160 million, €100 million of which will be allocated to Palestine and €60 million for Kosovo, given the political importance of this funding. These sums have been placed in reserve in anticipation of the letter of amendment to be published by the Commission. In terms of funding for the common foreign and security policy (CFSP), the Council agrees with the figure initially proposed by the Commission, €242.9 million in commitment appropriations and €234.1 million in payment appropriations). (L.C./transl.fl)