Possible and necessary ” “” “

“We have reached a satisfactory compromise. The Union is resuming its path, but it’s clear that the Financial Perspectives 2007-2013, approved in Brussels, show that the EU budget must be radically reformed as soon as possible”, declared Tony Blair commenting on the results of the European Council on 15 and 16 December, during which he emerged as the protagonist of a marathon of mediations, “threats”, retractions and advances. “Each said he wanted the agreement, then everyone came back to make new claims”, said the British premier, President-in-Office of the European Council until 31 December, commenting wryly on his “colleagues”, the heads of state and of government of the 25, with whom he finally reached a deal and signed the plurennial budget of the 27-member Union. LARGER EUROPE, LESSER RESOURCES. The expenditure ceiling for the next seven years is fixed at 862 billion euros, roughly 13 billion more than the proposal made by London on the eve of the summit. The figure corresponds to 1.045% of the gross domestic product of the member countries; the UK would have preferred to stop at 1.03%. Mediation was reached thanks to the resolute intervention of the new German Chancellor Angela Merkel. “At Strasbourg we have just voted the budget for 2006, valid for 25 countries”, commented Josep Borrell, President of the European Parliament, the institution that shares budgetary powers with the Council. That budget, Borrell continued, “reaches 1.09% of the European GDP. How is it possible to approve the Financial Perspectives that will hold good for 27 nations, by restricting funds? The EU cannot be enlarged by reducing its resources”. EU FUNDS TAKE FIVE DIRECTIONS. The funds are distributed in five directions in the budget document: first, Lisbon Strategy (research, technological development, trans-European networks, education…) and cohesion policies to reduce disparities between old and new member states; second, protection and management of natural resources, comprising agriculture and fishing; third, area of justice, liberty and security, i.e. protection and rights of citizens, anti-terrorism measures, control of immigration; fourth, external action (including pre-membership projects, cooperation in development, humanitarian aid); and fifth, administrative costs. The British budget “rebate”, contested by many countries and in particular by France, remains in force, though Blair accepted a 10.5 billion euro reduction over the entire period. Common Agricultural Policy remains for the time being the major beneficiary of EU funds; but it will be opened to a review, together with all other budgetary items, in 2009 thanks to the “re-examination clause”. The recent accession countries emerged satisfied from the summit; they obtain, together with Greece, Belgium, Ireland, Spain and Portugal, enhanced funds to revive their economies and reinforce their national social systems. THE DOCUMENT PASSES TO THE EXAMINATION OF PARLIAMENT. After having defined the Financial Perspectives, it becomes “possible and necessary”, according to Blair, “to work on the reform of the budget, and then look at the objectives that Europe must set itself on globalization, terrorism, immigration, environment and further enlargement”. According to the President of the Commission, José Manuel Durao Barroso, “Europe has avoided paralysis. With this budget, which does not entirely satisfy us, the Union can work and, thanks to the re-examination clause, we could study ways of improving it”. During the meeting between the Presidency of the Council, the Commission Executive and the heads of the European parliamentary groups on 20 December, the representatives of the parties repeatedly contested the compromise result reached by the heads of state and of government. The leader of the European People’s Party, Hans-Gert Poettering, was the most explicit, warning that the “Financial Perspectives do not yet exist, merely a text of the Council”. The representatives of the EP will meet with the Commission and the Austrian Presidency of the Council (which succeeds that of the UK) on 24 January for a first joint review of the situation. After further negotiation and an inter-institutional agreement, the budgetary document could reach the plenary of the European Parliament in March. Macedonia “CANDIDATE COUNTRY”. But the European Council did not merely deal with financial issues. In the “Conclusions of the Presidency” it was decided to postpone both the question of social Europe and the resumption of the debate on the ratification of the Constitution to the six months’ Austrian Presidency (1st January-30 June 2006). The final document insists on “the need for a balanced, global and coherent approach that regards the policies for the control of clandestine immigration and, in cooperation with third countries, that exploits the advantages of regular migration”. This is followed by various chapters, dedicated to anti-terrorism, sustainable development, climate change, and external relations. The leaders of the 25, together with those of Bulgaria and Romania, due to enter the EU in 2007, assigned the status of “candidate country” to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, which thus begins its process of adjusting to future EU membership.