Euro MPs flex budget muscles

Date: 26/10/1995

By Rory Watson

THE European Parliament demonstrated its intention in Strasbourg this week to use its budgetary powers to further influence the future direction of European Union policy.

MEPs argued that a specific environmental dimension be built into the use of EU regional, social and transport funds, with full assessments of the impact of major projects provided not just to Union governments but also to the Parliament.

They are also introducing a new procedure whereby MEPs analyse the way in which European taxpayers' money is spent before new spending programmes are agreed for the following year.

The Parliament is using next year's budget to set out clearly for the first time its political priorities for the EU's internal policies.

MEPs, however, are set to disagree with EU governments by preparing to freeze 70 million ecu originally allocated for trans-European networks in a special reserve fund. The funds would only be released once members are satisfied they can be spent properly.

Information policy is set to be given a higher priority with encouragement to pool resources and with the creation of a special reserve fund of 50 million ecu which would be used for specific campaigns to inform citizens of their rights, the single currency and reform of the EU.

Despite the importance given to internal policies, MEPs are warning the Union that it may soon have to face up to a situation where it runs hard up against the budgetary ceilings laid down three years ago as foreign policy spending becomes a greater and greater priority.

In a bid to inject stricter financial management into EU-backed projects in Central and Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean, MEPs are demanding quarterly and annual progress reports on the use of the Union's funds in those areas.

The 86.5-billion-ecu budget being voted on by the European Parliament this week is marginally higher than the draft spending originally tabled by the Commission. The spending plans will now be examined by the Council of Ministers in November for a second time before being finally adopted by MEPs in December.