Brussels, 01/04/2009 (Agence Europe) - The addition of almost €250 million to funding for 2009 and greater flexibility in the allocation and use of funds: these are the main demands of the European Parliament agriculture committee on the agricultural chapter - development of broadband internet in rural areas and new challenges - of the European economic recovery plan. The report by Petya Stavreva (EPP-ED, Bulgaria) on the proposal was adopted unanimously by the committee on Tuesday 31 March and will go to the vote in plenary session in Strasbourg on 4-7 May.
At the European Council of 19-20 March, EU heads of state and government reached agreement on ways of financing the €5 billion recovery plan, with €1.020 going to rural development (initially the European Commission proposed €1.5 billion). €600 million will be trimmed off the common agricultural policy budget in 2009 and €420 million in 2010, and it will be for member states to decide how to share the sums allocated between the two aims (broadband internet and new challenges - climate change, renewable energy, water, biodiversity and restructuring of the milk sector). The Commission initially proposed €1 billion for the internet and €500 million for the new challenges.
Additional €250 million
In adopting the advisory report by Petya Stavreva, the agriculture committee called for the injection of €249.84 million into funding for 2009. In an amendment to the 2009 budget adopted in December 2008, the European Parliament and Council increased the budget line for rural development by €250 million. The Commission has hitherto refused this additional funding, pointing out that it would be inappropriate to amend all rural development programmes. However, since the programmes will all be reviewed for the recovery plan, the EP agriculture committee is proposing to make these €250 million available. This change would take the total available for 2009 to almost €850 million, with €170 million to be spent in the 2010 budget (instead of €600 million and €420 million respectively). The report brings other changes to the initial proposal: - the possibility of sharing the funding among member states according to their needs in terms of broadband internet installation, especially in areas where access is difficult, rather than according to the usual historic criteria; - greater flexibility in allowing countries that are having difficulty with co-financing to use the money for loans and credit guarantees, which would allow rural players to make investments; - the possibility of extending the types of support suggested to other kinds of action (public internet services and equipment, job creation in rural areas, creating producers' organisation networks). (L.C./transl.rt)