On line on December 19th, 20th and 21st, an experiment from SIR Daily News in English. The service will officially start on January 9th 2006
After outlining the 2007-2013 Financial prospects, it is now "possible and necessary to work at the reform of the budget, so that then we can look at the goals that Europe has to set out for itself about globalisation, terrorism, immigration, the environment and further accession". Tony Blair, the English prime minister and the chairman of the EU Council until December 31st, spoke this morning at the EU Parliament to illustrate to the Parliamentary Leaders’ Conferenc, the agreement on the long-term budget that has been stipulated at Brussels on December 15th and 16th. According to the President of the Commission, José Manuel Durao Barroso, who was present, "with such a budget, the EU can work. Europe has managed to steer clear of paralysis, and now it is up and running again". Barroso too spoke of a poor result, but "thanks to the revision article, now we can think of some improvements". Many parliamentary leaders took the floor to challenge the "bearish" result achieved by the heads of state and heads of government. The leader of the People’s Party, Hans Gert Poettering, claimed that "there are no financial prospects yet, but just a Council Act". Actually, for it to be applicable, the budget must be approved by Parliament. The representatives of the EU Assembly will meet the Commission and the Austrian chairmanship (which will replace the English chairmanship on January 1st) on January 24th for a first common examination. After further negotiations and an inter-institutional agreement, the accounting document could be submitted to the plenary Parliamentary meeting in March.
