June deal on EU budget seen crucial

Members of the European Parliament and the EU Committee of the Regions consider it crucial that an agreement on the EU's long-term financial planning is reached in June for the good of Europe's regional policy. All speakers at a conference attended by...

Members of the European Parliament and the EU Committee of the Regions consider it crucial that an agreement on the EU's long-term financial planning is reached in June for the good of Europe's regional policy.

All speakers at a conference attended by representatives of the two sides stressed the need to reach an overall agreement on the financial perspective in June under the Luxembourg presidency.

Peter Stub, president of the COR, said that "the positions of the Commission, the Parliament and the COR are in fact one and the same. Any delay in beginning the implementation of the new structural funds as a result of protracted negotiations on the financial perspective would lead to instability and financial disruption throughout the local and regional authorities of the EU".

Regional Development Commissioner Danuta Hubner told the conference it would be "a political and financial disaster" if there were to be no agreement. "Cohesion policy programmes depend on a clear financial perspective".

Although the intention of the EU presidency and the European Commission is to have an agreement between the 25 member states sealed during the June EU summit in Brussels, the situation is still very unclear. Six countries, all net contributors, are insisting that the EU should reduce its spending budget, something which is being strongly opposed by the other member states.

In a joint resolution, the MEPs and the committee backed the European Commission's proposal for the financial perspective for 2007-2013 to be 1.14 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI) and they called for cohesion policy to be allocated at least 0.41 per cent of GNI.

The importance of cohesion policy for people's daily lives was highlighted in the joint declaration which states: "Any reduction of the budget will put in danger the basics of the cohesion policy and consequently undermine the principle of solidarity that represents a distinct and essential element of the identity of European integration and of our model of society".

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