One percent of GDP is not enough” “

EU budget and financial prospects are once again at the centre of debate in European institutional headquarters, especially in view of the EU’s imminent enlargement to ten new member states. The Commission has prepared a document which will be discussed next week during the session of Parliament in Strasbourg, in which an exponent of the Council will also participate. The other questions on the EU’s agenda during this phase include the “Lisbon strategy”, the preparation of the European elections and an important research project in the sector of the security of citizens. INVESTMENTS TO PROMOTE INTEGRATION. Next week the Commission in Brussels will adopt a “general communication” concerning the financial prospects for the period 2007-2013 and present itself before the parliamentary assembly on Tuesday 10 February for a challenging and crucial debate. The Executive has in fact long announced the need to increase Community resources in the years to come “if all the commitments of the Union and more particularly those addressed at the new members are to be tackled”. At the present time the “members” of the EU allocate 1% of their own GDP to Brussels, whereas the Commission insists that this quota needs to be increased to 1.27%. In December six member states (Germany, France, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Austria and Sweden, among the main net contributors to the coffers of the EU) had declared, in an open letter, their intention of limiting the level of their contributions to the current’1%. At the time this position was sharply criticised by Commission President Prodi, by various Commissioners and by numerous MEPs. A BUDGET FOR 25 MEMBER STATES. A proposal was published in Brussels in recent days, estimating additional expenditures amounting to 11.8 billion euros in excess of the draft EU budget adopted at the end of 2003. These additional funds are needed to prepare for EU enlargement. “EU investments and expenditures – Commission sources explain – must clearly be increased to take account of the approaching challenges posed to the Union. Only thus shall 75 million new citizens be able to benefit, on a level playing field, from all Community programmes”. After this “upgrade”, the EU’s financial commitments rise to a total of 111.3 billion. As regards the breakdown of the expenditures, allocations for agriculture continue to represent the most substantial budgetary item, accounting for over 40% of the total resources invested. They are followed by expenditures for structural programmes, aimed at modernising infrastructures and facilitating greater cohesion between the economies of the 25. In third place are expenditures for internal policies (including research, transport, energy). An important budgetary item is also so-called “external action”, which comprises humanitarian aid and cooperation with third countries. In fifth and last place come administrative costs. As far as revenues are concerned, first place is taken by state transfers, hence value added tax and, to a lesser degree, excise duties. EMPLOYMENT, SECURITY, EUROPEAN ELECTIONS. But European institutional activity is also agitated by various other questions at the present time. The Commission is committed, together with the Council, to formulating new programmes for the implementation of the “Lisbon strategy”, decided in 2000 with the aim of turning the EU into “the most competitive economy in the world by 2010, based on knowledge, sustainable development and the improvement of employment levels”. Only in recent days the EU’s statistical services published two significant economic data. Inflation is tending to stabilise itself around an average 2%; Germany, Denmark and Finland are confirmed as the most “virtuous” states, whereas prices continue to increase more rapidly in Greece, Ireland and Spain. As regards unemployment, a figure of 8.8% is registered in the twelve countries that have adopted the single currency, while the EU average remains constant at a level of 8%. On quite a different front the Commission has begun a research project in the field of security. Commissioner Philippe Busquin explained the need “to reply to the many questions being posed by citizens in terms of personal and collective protection”. In future the EU will have to act “to coordinate information and actions against terrorism, manage international crises, and protect communication systems”. Last but not least, efforts are continuing to raise citizens’ awareness about the elections to the European Parliament, scheduled for mid-June. The means destined to this end include the “Europe direct” service: a telephone hotline (00 800 67891011) and a website () are at citizens’ disposal to answer any questions concerning EU history, institutions and policies.