Brussels, 09/10/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 9 October, the Council of Ministers of the EU drew up (by qualified majority) amending letter No.1 to the 2010 draft budget. This includes additional funding (€95 million more in commitments and €60 million more in payments) to support the Palestinian Authority help reconstruction in Gaza. This will bring the total for 2010 in the region to €270 million in commitments and €235 million in payments.
The Council is so far rejecting the other elements in the Commission's amending letter: - the creation of accompanying measures for the banana sector in view of a possible trade agreement to be signed with Latin American banana producing countries (reason for the Council's refusal: there is no relevant legal basis); - support of €50 million in credit commitments and €20 million in payment appropriations, in the perspective of concluding an agreement during the Copenhagen conference on climate change in December 2009 (reason for the Council's rejection: it would be premature to mention an amount and the question should be re-examined during the Council's second reading for the 2010 tax year). Parliament is expected to give its opinion on this amending letter on 22 October and it would appear that it would agree to everything in the Commission's proposal. (L.C./transl.rh)