The funds allocated for the measures for the Lisbon Strategy, those for the foreign policy and the specialised Agencies are causing friction between Parliament and the Council, the two EU’s budgeting bodies. The Budget Committee of the EU Parliament, chaired by the German MEP Reimer Böge, complains of the reduction in the funds allocated to these two areas. The Assembly’s strategy relies on the "result-oriented budget" concept, as explained by the general rapporteur, the Finnish MEP Kyösti Virrankoski. "We have to be clear about what we can do with this budget. The allocation of funds must follow some political priorities, not the opposite". According to the MEPs, the first deficiencies concern the "Competitiveness for growth and development" budget entry: allocations to research and innovation are considered inadequate. About this, the president Böge explains: "We cannot certainly accept any other reduction". The section "The EU as a world stakeholder" complains, in particular, of the lack of funds for interventions in Kosovo and Palestine. The same applies to the funds for the EU Agencies. The discussion will go on until the first reading of the 2008 budget, which will be submitted to the EU Commission in the first week of October, in the run-up to the plenary poll of 25 October.
