BUDGET: BUDGETS COMMITTEE QUESTIONS EU DRAFT BUDGET FOR 2005.

The conciliation meeting will precede Council's first reading of the budget. It will assess the budgetary proposals made by the Commission in April (see issue 2865), and seek agreement on expenditure on agriculture, international fisheries agreements and the common foreign and security policy (CFSP).

The Committee is insisting that agriculture spending should provide particularly for the promotion of quality systems and risk financing for livestock epidemics, and demanded further information on the negotiations underway on fisheries agreements.

It also wants information concerning ongoing CFSP measures to be presented more clearly, despite the progress made at consultation meetings between Parliament and Council.

In is concerned over spending plans for external action (Heading 4). The Committee notes that the PDB funding for Iraq exceeds the level pledged by the EU...