The budget of the Eupol Afghanistan mission sacrificed on the budgetary altar (Maj)

(BRUSSELS2) Council, Parliament and Commission are meeting again on Wednesday in trilogue to try to reach an agreement on the 2012 budget. During the last discussion in the European Parliament, the Committee on Budgets decided to slash the budget for foreign affairs and security to restore funding for certain budget lines for Palestine, maritime surveillance in the Mediterranean, management of refugee flows, development aid which had suffered during the Commission's first proposal (1) or in the discussion between member states.

MEPs thus agreed to approve an increase of €100 million in aid for Palestine and €27 million for the development cooperation instrument for Asia and Latin America. They also added 3 million euros for election observation missions and 3 million euros for the Turkish Cypriot Community, as well as 8 million for crisis response and preparedness. To finance these increases, MEPs have cut other lines, in particular the EU police mission in Afghanistan, which received prime treatment (see details below) as well as the information and communication budget in the countries third.

But in total they have increased the line of the budget devoted to external relations (EU as global partner) increases by 55 million euros compared to the Commission proposal and by almost 259 million euros (in commitment appropriations ) in relation to the Council's position. An amount of EUR 208 million above the budgetary limits, for which the mobilization of the flexibility instrument will be necessary.

(Update) The cuts recommended by the European Parliament

• Eupol of Afghanistan: -18 million euros, i.e. a budget limited to 35 million euros in commitment appropriations (compared to 53 million in the proposal) and 27 million euros in payment appropriations (compared to 45 million in proposal).
• Reconstruction of Afghanistan: - 1 million (commitments). But the payment appropriations remain unchanged.
• CFSP emergency measures: -15 million on a budget of 35 million euros (commitment) or 30 million euros (payments)
• CFSP preparatory actions: -2,6 million (commitments)
• Information and communication in third countries: - 4 million (out of a budget of 10 million provided for by the Council)
• Cooperation with industrialized countries: -1 million (commitments) or 1,5 million (payments)
• Administrative expenses IFS and PESC: - 856.000 and -250.000 respectively.

(1) Read also: Draft budget 2012: the PeSDC increases, evolution of foreign policy