Patstelling tussen Europees Parlement en Raad over EU-begroting 2007-2013 (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - MEPs are close to clinching a small concession on auditing rules, but EU authorities continue to play a game of brinksmanship on the big issue of signing off the 2007-2013 budget deal.

Dutch liberal member Jan Mulder i said Tuesday's (21 February) talks between parliament, the European Commission and member states brought the prospect of national statements of assurance a step closer.

Mr Mulder is pushing for member states to give regular public pledges that they have spent EU money properly, after EU auditors in 2005 failed to bless the books for the 11th time in a row.

"We are making some progress on this, a compromise might be possible," he said.

The original campaign called for statements at minister level, but Mr Mulder would now settle for senior treasury staff, he indicated.

The UK and Denmark strongly support the move but Germany remains sceptical about the value of promises made in Berlin on regional finances.

Talks did not move forward on the main topic of how much the EU will spend in 2007-2013 however.

All three sides need to sign off on December's budget deal before it can enter into play.

Member states repeated there is nothing more to give beyond the original package of €862 billion, while MEPs stuck to the tactic of not revealing how much extra they realistically want.

"They just sort of picked at the issues on the agenda. It wasn't a substantive discussion," one EU official said.

The three sides agreed to agree at their next meeting on 21 March instead, in order to ensure that EU programmes in new member states in 2007 get cheques on time.

EU officials reported a "warm atmosphere" at the negotiating table, in contrast to some of the hard talking outside the chamber.

German conservative MEP Reimer Boge had promised to "teach them [member states] some respect" in January, while threatening to veto the 2007-2013 budget deal.

The Austrian presidency did put the boot in to the commission on three points however.

Member states complained about the way the commission presents its proposals on the detailed breakdown of EU spending.

"They put member states' figures next to other figures based on their own original budget proposal, which makes it look like council has made a mistake," an EU official explained.

"There were very negative statements about this at the last ambassadors' meeting, especially from France and Denmark."

Member states ruled out commission wishes to boost the so-called flexibility instrument, used mainly for disaster relief, by €500 million a year.

And they questioned the wisdom of commission proposals to reduce future common foreign and security policy spending from over €300 million a year to €150 million a year.