Brussels to press for fund to fight globalisation effects
LUCIA KUBOSOVA
11.10.2005 @ 17:41 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The European commission is set to re-table its proposal for a €7bn package to help countries affected by globalisation and industry restructuring.
The ‘growth adjustment fund’ proposal will be included in a paper the commission is to adopt next Thursday (20 October) and is to be presented at a meeting of EU leaders later this month.
Barroso keeps urging the UK presidency to resume budgetary talks it has previously blocked (Photo: European Commission)
The Commission was asked to come up with an idea on what Europe should do to meet the challenges of globalisation - but the fund it is proposing is directly linked to negotiations on the next EU budget (2007-2013), which have been blocked since June.
London, which currently holds the EU presidency, has made clear it wants to avoid discussion about future spending at the informal summit, as it is planning to unveil its own proposal in early November.
However, according to a Commission official, Brussels is hoping that its adjustment fund could be "something like a bridge between Blair and Chirac when they resume debate about the future of EU's financing".
A row between UK prime minister Tony Blair and French president Jacques Chirac over the direction of future EU spending was one of the main reasons for the budget summit collapse in June.
The idea for such a fund has already been turned down by member states, but commission president Jose Manuel Barroso has re-launched it following criticism from Mr Chirac, who claimed the commission is not doing enough to help citizens affected by globalisation.
Globalisation fund to serve the rich?
However, the proposal aimed at responding to French criticism on Brussel's apathy on globalisation, is not likely to be welcomed on all fronts.
According to the commission's draft, the fund would extend to €7 billion for the seven-year period, plus €4 billion in reserve of the common budget.
But a diplomat from one of the new member states suggested that the poorer countries viewed it with suspicion from the moment it was first put on the table.
"It seemed like the fund was there to serve a few rich countries, while the poorer states had meant to be squeezed by strict rules that would make it hard for them to use all the money they are allocated", he said.
He added that several countries will only agree to re-introduce the fund in return for stronger assurances that they can keep the money they get from the EU budget, even if it takes them a bit longer to spend it.