In a new spirit of co-operation with Council, Parliament this month voted thorough a Ecu 91 bn EU budget for 1998. With MEPs agreeing on the need for stringency, this year's negotiations with Finance Ministers were relatively trouble free. CAP spending was trimmed by some Ecu 550 m and at just over Ecu 40 bn, is now considerably less than half the total. As Budget Committee spokesman Stanislaw Tillich (D, EPP) explained, MEPs were not however prepared to go along with any cuts to regional and social spending. Throughout the budgetary procedure MEPs had been anxious to see priorities given to job creation and preparing for enlargement. This had now been achieved with the Ecu 150 m jobs initiative and allocating extra staff to the enlargement process. Council had also shown a willingness to compromise by accepting an extra Ecu 70 m for the Socrates student exchange programme.
John Tomlinson (Birmingham West, PES) took the opportunity to remind Council that expenditure on the new buildings for Parliament in Brussels and Strasbourg arose out of government leaders decision to oblige the institutions to maintain three places of work.
He also pointed out that more money could be raised for the EU budget if the member states tightened up collection procedures and tackled VAT and customs fraud as well as tracking down those seeking to circumvent customs regulations.