EU adopts bumper budget for 2010

BRUSSELS - The European Parliament has adopted a bumper EU budget for 2010, with economic recovery spending amongst the items swelling the accounts.

The €122.9 billion budget – approved on Thursday (17 December) - represents a six percent increase on this year's figure, almost half of which (€58bn) will be spent on agriculture, rural development and the environment.

The second largest portion (€36bn) - known as ‘cohesion' funds in euro jargon - is headed towards poorer regions.

The 2010 accounts will also include €2.4 billion for economic recovery projects - part of €5 billion agreed for 2009-2010 – to be spent primarily in the energy sector and on broadband development in rural areas.

"If we want Europeans to feel more secure in 2010, we have to implement this budget cleverly", said centre-right MEP Laszlo Surjan, who helped steer the document through parliament.

"This is why we are enhancing energy security, supporting the creation of jobs, introducing the microfinance facility," he added.

Umbrella business organisation Eurochambres welcomed the new €100-million microfinance fund as an important initiative to provide credit for the unemployed to start new businesses, but warned the money must be forthcoming.

A figure of €300 million in emergency support for the dairy industry and €75 million in funding to help decommission the Kozloduy nuclear power plant in Bulgaria were also contained in the new budget.

Farewell Nice, hello Lisbon

The 2010 budget – agreed by EU member states and the parliament last month but still requiring Thursday's formal approval - amounts to 1.04 percent of the EU's gross national income (GNI).

Its revenue comes in various forms, primarily from member state contributions based on GNI, but also from sources such as EU import taxes, collected by national governments but then handed to the EU pot to help finance the activities of its institutions.

New rules under the recently enforced Lisbon Treaty will give parliament a greater say over the budget in future years, with the 2010 accounts the last to be agreed under the old Nice Treaty procedures.

With all budgetary areas now subject to ‘co-decision' between parliament and the member states, MEPs for the first time will have the power to challenge EU farm spending figures.

Speaking in the European Parliament after the vote, EU budget commissioner Algirdas Semeta called the 2010 accounts an important "recovery budget."

"It's about getting ready for better times, maintaining jobs, stimulating growth," he said. "Despite the difficult economic situation, the 2010 budget guarantees the financial resources to keep EU programmes on track and focused on areas linked to recovery."

One area of budget expenditure yet to be fixed relates to the EU's new diplomatic service, set up under the Lisbon Treaty and known as the European External Action Service (EEAS).

Funding for the 5,000-strong diplomatic force is likely to be set by the EU's new high representative for foreign affairs, Catherine Ashton, together with MEPs next March or April.