Mojmir Mrak, professor of international finance at the Ljubljana Faculty of Economics - Confident about Conclusion of EU Budget Talks
For Slovenia, the proposal for the 2007-2013 EU budget that the Luxembourg EU presidency has put forward makes it possible to wrap up budget negotiations: it gives Slovenia more money for cohesion than the current budget framework, economist Mojmir Mrak said.
Is the increase in cohesion funds logical?
Of course, the increase is logical, as new members joined an existing framework where the amount of funding available had been pre-determined.
"But now we are negotiating as equal members and will have access to funding in about the same amount as similarly developed countries. This is fair for Slovenia and as such leads to a more appropriate financial package.
What are the concrete figures?
Slovenia will receive about as much money for cohesion in one year as it now gets in three. However, the administration must also gear up to draw these funds.
How do you evaluate the Luxembourg presidency proposal?
As a realistic compromise. Many in Europe would probably want a budget geared more towards Lisbon objectives and cohesion. This is why Slovenia had backed the European Commission's proposal. However, the European reality is such that Luxembourg's proposal is the best they can do; since all items had to be marked down, the proposal is less favourable for all members. Unfortunately, the main victim of the proposal is the Lisbon Strategy.
"Personally, I would want more funding for this field, for if you set certain objectives you have to back them financially. Yet there is also the argument that you can achieve these objectives to a greater extent with national funding.
Will a final deal be reached at the EU summit this week?
The summit will have to resolve three key dilemmas: the British rebate, French insistence on the preservation of the farm aid agreement, and the problems of big net contributors such as Germany, Netherlands and Sweden.
As for the rebate, something will have to change. It is unlikely that the rebate will be eliminated, but a reduction will probably be agreed.
"However, an agreement on the rebate is feasible only as a package deal with the agriculture policy: in this case it is possible that the [budget] talks will wrap up.
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