EU BUDGET: NEW AMENDING BUDGET FOR 2003 FOCUSES ON THE REVENUE SIDE.

The European Commission put forward a fourth proposal to amend the 2003 EU Budget on May 26 modifying the division of contributions between the Member States for the current year in line with the previous Amending Budget which anticipated a cut of almost Euro 6 billion in payment appropriation requirements (see European Report 2776 for further details). The revision concerns the following three items: the forecast of customs duties to be collected in the current budgetary year and the current year's VAT bases and GNI bases. Due to lower than expected growth in 2002 as well as lower forecast economic growth for 2003 as compared to last year's budgetary...