PARLIAMENT BRACED FOR 2001 BUDGET BATTLE.

During the three-sided dialogue (Commission/Parliament/Council of Ministers) that unfolded on 6 July in Strasbourg, on the sidelines of the European Parliament's latest plenary session, no progress was made ahead of the 20 July Budget Council's first reading of the draft EU Budget for 2001. The European Commissioner for the Budget, Michaele Schreyer, put forward fresh arguments, that tended to be more political than financial, to justify the Euro 814 million required in Category 4 (External Actions) for the Western Balkans, but the Council Presidency continues to be deeply suspicious about the amount involved. The Council also turned its nose up at any idea of revising the financial perspective, which has turned into another sore point in the draft budget approval process.For the time being, the Parliament is more of an onlooker seeing more of the budgetary game than the players. It proceeded on 5 July to adopt a...