Representatives of 17 members of the EU, among them Slovenia, have come to a conclusion that an agreement on the Union's financial arrangements for the 2007-2013 period must be reached in June, i.e. still under the Luxembourg presidency.
Slovenia's representative attending an informal meeting on the issue in Lisbon on Wednesday also said that the participants agreed that the level of cohesion funds as put forward by the European Commission was adequate.
"If Europe wants to be efficient, it needs adequate financial resources and, above all, a consistent cohesion policy," deputy director of the Government Office for European Affairs Rado Genorio summed up the findings of the meeting.
The informal meeting was also attended by European Commissioner for Regional Policy Danuta Huebner, who said that "June is a very important date".
European cohesion policy needs a critical mass of funds in order to be able to respond to the challenges of the enlarged EU, representatives of the 17 countries wrote in the joint statement issued at the conclusion of their meeting.
According to Genorio, the participants thought 0.41% of the EU's GNP was a sufficient framework for cohesion policy in negotiations on the next financial perspective. If there is not enough money for cohesion policy, it will be clearly harder to achieve Lisbon goals, Genorio said.
He and his counterparts agreed that the EU's financial arrangements should secure adequate financial resources to satisfy the needs of new entrants, while also stressing the need to safeguard convergence processes in the EU as a whole and in its individual members.
Considering correction mechanisms, the 17 countries thought the next financial perspective should provide a framework for simple and transparent funding without rebates. They referred to the notorious British rebate in particular, Genorio said.
The informal meetings, such as the latest in Lisbon, are attended by representatives of ten newcomers plus Spain, Portugal and Greece, as well as four active observers: Italy, Belgium, Ireland and Finland. The next meeting is planned to be held in Malta before the EU's June summit.
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