The EP wants to sharply increase the funding for Galileo, to appropriate additional funds for Palestine and for Kosovo. MEPs reinstate sums devoted to the Lisbon purposes (competitiveness, growth, employment) and the cohesion funding cut out by the Council. In the 2008 budget, for the first
time ever there will be more money allocated for growth and job creation than for agriculture. The EP decided to put into the reserve more then EUR 40 million devoted to versatile administrative expenditures of the European Commission. The Budgets Committee does not support the expenditure cuts on the agencies desired by the Council.
The total Budget 2008 amount proposed by the EP is of €124.201.365.130 in payments (€129.693.891.505 in commitments)
"Sustainable growth and employment" (heading 1a & 1b)
1a - €9.93bn(in payments)
1b - €42.448bn(in payments)
Parliament adopted a series of amendments for the old structural funds lines now in heading 1a and 1b. MEPs reversed over €1bn of cuts made by the Council to payments in headings 1a (competitiveness) and 1b (cohesion) for multi-annual programmes identified as priorities under the Lisbon Strategy and recently co-decided by the Parliament and the Council itself.
Under heading 1a for competitiveness and growth, among the Lisbon Strategy priorities, the European satellite navigation system Galileo and the European Technology Institute (EIT) are particularly important for the EP. MEPs have set aside an additional €739m for the financing of Galileo and EIT to reach a total in 2008 of €890m in commitments (€400m in payments). The EP wants Galileo to be funded wholly by the Community and upholds the Commission's proposal requesting a revision of the financial perspective to provide adequate financing for Galileo and the European Institute of Technology over the 2007 - 2013 period. The Galileo project could fail unless sufficient funding is provided. The funding level proposed by the Council in its first reading (€151m in commitments), is regarded as utterly inadequate by both MEPs and the Commission (which in September put forward a new funding plan).
By their vote, MEPs clearly affirmed their request for a revision of the medium-term financial planning. In case no deal can be reached with Council on this point, the EP would prefer to transfer the funds foreseen for Galileo in the financial perspective 2007 to 2013 to the projects such as Lifelong Learning or Trans-European Networks, so that the amount earmarked for funding Galileo does not disappear from the budget.
As regards the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) the EP proposes a figure of €2.9m (in commitments and payments), for the funding of the EIT board and the creation of a new budget line for Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs). Like the EU agencies, the EIT's administrative budget would be separate from its operational budget. The EIT's operational budget would be transferred from the "education and culture" heading to "research and innovation".
"Natural resources " (heading 2)
€54.9bn (in payments)
The EP "is strongly opposed to the indiscriminate cuts proposed by Council to many lines under this heading" and calls for the re-establishment of the figures in the PDB for many such lines. Parliament is also concerned with the fall in real terms of adoption of operational programmes as regards the rural development pillar of the CAP, despite the need to restructure the rural economy and expects to see rapid improvements in this regard. MEPs note however that the Council will have the final say on those lines which concern compulsory expenditure.
"Feeedom, Security and Justice" (heading 3a)
€533 million (in payments)
Given the urgency of immigration matters, the Parliament proposes an increase for the agency managing EU external borders the EP decided to double the amounts allocated to FRONTEX, the agency for the EU's external frontiers,. with €30m extra for operational costs. The figure earmarked for this agency thus rises to €70m in total. The EP underlines the importance of the work of the Frontex agency but remains critical of the results achieved by Frontex and calls for 30% of its administrative costs to be placed in reserve. MEPs want the Agency to present regularly the state of play and the scheduled forthcoming operations and urge the Member States to deliver on their promises and support the Agency's missions so that the Agency can perform its tasks more effectively
"Citizenship" (heading 3b)
€708 million (in payments)
MEPs restore the PDB under this heading in order to preserve programmes such as Culture 2007, Media 2007 and Youth in action. The EP proposes appropriations for a number of new and ongoing pilot projects and preparatory actions in this regard. MEPs support within the Civil Protection Financial Instrument, the provision of a complementary capability in the form of a stand-by force for handling natural or man-made disasters as well as in cases of acts of terrorism or environmental accidents.
"The EU as a global partner" (heading 4)
€8.13bn (in payments)
Parliament has said many times that the funding available for the EU's action outside its borders for the period 2007-2013 is inadequate. The EP is proposing to cut by 20% the funds allocated to the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) to the level of budget 2007 and to use the €40m thereby released to finance other objectives under this heading. MEPs support the increases for Kosovo and Palestine proposed by the Commission (letter of amendment to the PDB of 17 September 2007) and propose a supplementary €10m each for Kosovo and Palestine. Additionally, to fund aid to Kosovo and Palestine, MEPs suggest drawing on €87m via the flexibility instrument. Of this figure, €40m would be added to funds already envisaged for the missions to Kosovo and Palestine (to be divided equally between these two objectives). The flexibility instrument could also be used to fund unforeseen expenditure on the CFSP. Ultimately, the CFSP would still be allocated €200m, as originally planned, since the CFSP's €40m, which could be found via the flexibility instrument, is exactly the same as the cut of 20% proposed by MEPs. A discussion on the level of funding of Heading 4 and other policies would seem to be needed between Parliament and Council, inter alia on these CFSP-related matters.
"Administration" (heading 5)
€7.291bn (in payments)
Including 1bn 452m for the EP, 595m for the Council, 4bn 612m for the Commission
On the question of the posts at the Commission, for which Council had proposed a major cut, Parliament has reinstated the initial funding put forward by the Commission in its pre-draft budget. 49m go in the reserve, though, which will be released if a number of conditions are fulfilled. One of these conditions features a "screening" of administrative needs to be done by the Commission as well as a redeployment plan. As regards the EU recruitment procedure, "MEPs deplore the inefficiencies inherent in a competition system" ... which can "contribute to lowering the average standard of new EU officials as the best candidates will seek employment in more dynamic sectors of the EU economy."
Pilot projects and preparatory actions
Concerning the pilot projects and preparatory actions (instruments aiming to finance temporary actions which are not covered by other community programmes), MEPs adopted a list of projects including the creation of an emergency telephone line for victims of trafficking, pilot programme for motorway rest areas for the long-distance transport of animals, in accordance with earlier positions in favour of animal welfare objectives.
The European Parliament budget for 2008 (Report by Ville ITÄLÄ (EPP-ED, FI))
The EP's draft budget set a level of €1.452bn. In the report by Ville ITÄLÄ (EPP-ED, FI) on the EU 2008 budget (other sections), the House underlines that this is the last full year of this legislature and the last year before the entrance into force of the new Members’ Statute. The Parliament considers that this should be taken into account in view of the forthcoming financing requirements.
Environmental concerns
The Budgets Committee regrets that, more than five years after the start of the EMAS (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme) process in the budget procedure, EMAS registration is still pending and the impact on the environment as well as the savings and the investments in relation to its implementation are still not known.
Regarding the Parliaments three places of work (Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg), the Budget Committee was the administration to encourage the staff, while travelling between the three places of work, to use the most environmentally friendly means.
The report considers that the Presidencies of the Parliament and the Council should take into account EU citizens' opinion as regards the geographical dispersion of the Parliament amongst the three places of work and the related costs and environmental consequences.
Next steps
There remains controversy with the Council about additional money for the satellite navigation program Galileo and the financing of the external policy programs, for which the European Parliament will submit proposals. The next key step now sees Parliament and Council engaged in the 2nd conciliation on 23 November, aiming to strike an agreement before the 2nd reading. The EU 2008 Budget should be approved and signed in December in Strasbourg.
Author: European Parliament
