Europees Parlament en Raad bereiken overeenstemming over financiering Galileo (en)

At a budgetary conciliation meeting with the Council on 23 November, Parliament won a number of victories, notably on the Galileo project, the European Institute of Technology and EU missions to Kosovo and Palestine, while also safeguarding programmes belonging to the Lisbon strategy. The EP delegation will propose to the plenary a draft budget for 2008 that reflects the policy priorities adopted by Parliament at first reading.

The EU general budget for 2008 will be €120.3bn in payment appropriations, nearly 0.96% of the total GNI of the Member States.

The Parliament delegation, which came to the negotiating table with a mandate based on the outcome of the EP's first-reading vote on the 2008 budget, made it clear that, failing an agreement on Community funding of the Galileo project, there would be no deal on the common foreign and security policy (CFSP). The CFSP (together with the thorny issues of Kosovo and Palestine, and the use of the flexibility instrument) and, as usual, the level of payments, were the other key points in the negotiations. No fewer than twelve hours of talks were needed to hammer out a deal acceptable to all.

Galileo and EIT saved

"We came here to cut the Gordian knot", said Reimer Böge (EPP-ED, DE), chair of the EP delegation and of the Budgets Committee, at the start of the conciliation, referring to Galileo and the European Institute of Technology (EIT). By the close of the talks it was agreed, thanks to Parliament's insistence, that Galileo (the European satellite navigation system, which will be independent of the American, Russian and Chinese systems) will be funded entirely by the Community. The amount needed by 2013 (a shortfall of €2.4bn) will be found mainly from the revision of the Financial Perspective (€1.6bn of "new" money taken from agricultural expenditure not used in 2007).   The rest will come from the redeployment of funds intended for a few programmes that do not come under co-decision (€200 million), the "re-prioritisation" (change in the order of priorities to be funded: €400 million) of certain amounts earmarked for research and the unused margins in Heading 1a ( Competitiveness and growth: €300 million). Funding for the EIT (€300 million) is part of this financial package totalling €2.7bn (up to 2013).

Failing a satisfactory agreement on the Galileo programme, this project, which is politically, economically and symbolically crucial for the EU, might have collapsed. Since the start, the European Parliament has opposed a mixed financing system for Galileo, with funding drawn from both the Community budget and national budgets, pushing instead for it to be paid for entirely by the EU.  For both the EIT and Galileo, Parliament called for a review of the Financial Perspective in order to protect the Lisbon agenda's multiannual programmes Lifelong education and training, Erasmus Mundus and the Transeuropean networks (TENs). The entire budget of these programmes was saved. "I welcome with all my heart the result of these negotiations, which is a great success for Europe, for European industry and for Europe's citizens", said Kyösti Virrankoski (ALDE, FI), Parliament's 2008 budget rapporteur.

However, this budget agreement is subject to one condition: to put it into effect, the Member States must reach a compromise on the legal basis for Galileo at the Transport Council on 30 November.

Breakthrough on CFSP and guarantees of funding for Palestine and Kosovo

The CFSP will receive a total of €285 million from the EU budget, an increase of €125 million over 2007. Parliament has long drawn the attention of Council and Commission to the chronic underfunding of Heading 4 ( The EU as a global actor), even though the EP achieved a significant increase for this heading during the negotiations on the multiannual framework. The 2008 budget will thus make it easier to conduct joint actions outside the Community's borders. Of this figure, €70 million will be deployed through the flexibility instrument, which is designed to finance unforeseen or exceptional expenditure, under the Interinstitutional Agreement (IIA) of 17 May 2006. This exceptional funding will be used in 2008 for EU action in Kosovo and measures for Palestine.

Increase in level of payment appropriations

Under the EP-Council agreement, the level of payments for 2008 will be €120 346 160 000, around 0.96% of the EU's gross national income (GNI).  This is €300.35 million higher than the amended preliminary draft budget (PDB) proposed by the Commission. The Commission's initial PDB proposed a level of payments representing 0.97% of GNI, while the Council's draft budget figure was equivalent to 0.95%. The increase agreed by Parliament and Council for the 2008 budget is 5.7% higher than the 2007 figure.

During the conciliation, the EP delegation suggested improving the dialogue with the Commission in respect of democratic scrutiny and the coherence of the Union's external action through regular meetings at political level. The EP delegation also raised the issue of the Member States' responsibility for supervising Community funds in jointly managed policies, as laid down in the Financial Regulation (Art. 53) and the IIA of 17 May 2006. Parliament attaches great importance to commitment of the Member States to this matter.

Next steps

Parliament's Budgets Committee meets on 27 and 29 November to vote on the amendments to be tabled at second reading. The plenary vote takes place in Strasbourg on 13 December.

21/11/2007

Committee on Budgets

Chair of EP delegation : Reimer Böge (EPP-ED, DE)