EU BUDGET: COUNCIL OPPOSES COMMISSION CALL FOR GREATER FLEXIBILITY.

In its proposals on the 2007-13 financial framework presented in July, the Commission called for greater flexibility in moving funds from one budget heading to another in order to deal with unforeseen priorities such as post-conflict reconstruction efforts in countries like Iraq and Kosovo, and to use unspent monies from other areas. But the draft Council Conclusions, which will be discussed by EU Foreign Ministers on December 13, say that there is no need for "additional flexibility arrangements".

Every year there is a battle between the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers over where to find additional funds to cover unforeseen emergencies. The EP usually calls for an overall increase in the Budget while the Council insists on cutting programmes within a specific budget line to fund new priorities. The Commission's proposal would make it easier to use, for example, unspent funds from the Structural Funds programme to pay for urgent projects in the external relations field. But this suggestion appears to have been rejected by the Council.

The draft Conclusions are drawn up based on the discussions under the Dutch Presidency on the financial perspective carried out by various Councils including most recently the Finance Ministers (see Europe Information 2919). They say that the European Union should have the "financial means necessary to allow it to address effectively future challenges through policies agreed in accordance with the Treaty" while expenditure for "individual policy areas" must be seen in the "context of the overall expenditure limit" and linked to the question of own resources (member states' contribution to the EU Budget). However, Member States are...