Spirit of cooperation assists budgetary give and take

Date: 11/12/1997

By Rory Watson

EXCHANGE students and teachers wishing to pursue their academic activities in other EU countries will be among the beneficiaries from next year's 90-billion-ecu Union budget.

The European Parliament has increased the funds available to sponsor exchange visits over the next two years from an initial 50 million ecu to 70 million, and has broken new ground in the process.

EU governments were originally prepared to allocate only 25 million ecu, but gave significant ground in negotiations to produce a deal which will be formally approved by the Parliament in Strasbourg next week when it endorses the 1998 Union budget.

It is the first time budgetary negotiations have been used to settle a wider legislative dispute - in this case, on the future of the Socrates exchange programme - between MEPs and governments, demonstrating the more cooperative atmosphere which has characterised this year's expenditure round.

In tune with governments' stringent budgetary policies as they strive to qualify for the single currency, the Parliament will next week approve a 1.2-billion-ecu cut in planned 1998 expenditure, with agricultural, internal and external policies most affected. But MEPs, alarmed at attempts to reduce regional and social spending, have prevented any decrease in structural funding over the next 12 months.

The general consensus has extended to the 150-million-ecu jobs package put together by the Parliament which was endorsed by last month's employment summit in Luxembourg.

In exchange for the Parliament's readiness to find the necessary funds, which will be topped up with a further 41 million ecu for job-creation measures, EU governments agreed to allow funds to be spent on labour market incentives, joint European ventures and encouraging employment and innovation schemes for small businesses.

German Christian Democrat MEP Stanislaw Tillich, who will present the draft budget to the Parliament next week, believes that one of the most successful initiatives this year was the decision to table forecasts for agricultural expenditure in autumn after the main harvests instead of in spring as in the past.

“My aim is to ensure that this procedure is repeated next year and I want it to be part of the normal budgetary procedure,” he explained.

In another innovation, the Parliament will also limit the amount of Tacis funding which can be used to improve nuclear safety in the former Soviet Union.