"Reconciling political priorities with financial requirements"; "improving the budget structure through higher flexibility"; "improving the quality of the delivery of EU funds": the German MP Reimer Böge, who signed the final report, illustrated the three stalwarts of the agreement on the Financial Prospects for 2007/2013, reached in April and signed today in Strasbourg between the EU Parliament and the Council. The agreement was celebrated after the discussion and voting at Parliament, and the president of the Assembly, the Spanish Josep Borrell, and the current president of the Council, the Austrian Wolfgang Schüssel, signed the agreement before the EU MPs. Borrell stated that "this agreement reasserts the role of Parliament as a budgeting authority" and "the compromise reached is as much as Parliament could grant but as little as possible for the EU to work". The President also highlighted that "Europe costs just 26 cents a day per for citizen". The budget is applicable to the next seven year, even if it will undergo a mid-term revision in 2009. The budget reaches a total amount of 866 billion, equal to 1.045 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product of the EU member states and already reflects the future accessions, as it covers funds to Romania and Bulgaria. (to be continued)
