TRANS-EUROPEAN NETWORKS 2007-13 (11740/04)
Letter from Rt Hon Alun Michael MP, Minister
of State for Industry and the Regions, Department of Trade and
Industry to the Chairman
As you have requested, I am writing to update
your committee on progress on this dossier in the light of the
European Council's agreement of the budget for 2007-13 on 19 December
2005.
A total budget of €72.12 billion (£49.4
billion) was allocated for the sub-heading including TENS. This
is considerably less than the Commission proposal of €1.22
billion (£83.6 billion), but still represents year on year
real growth of 7.5 per cent compared to 2006. There is no specific
figure for TENS or other components of the sub-heading, but the
budget agreement does call for particular priority to be given
to enhancing the EU's research effort. It is also stated that
due account will be taken of some priority projects within the
Trans-European Networks.
The Commission will propose a breakdown of all
the budget sub-headings includingthis one in February. TENS will
be a part of this. This overall proposal, includingfunding for
TENS, will then form part of the negotiation of the Inter-InstitutionalAgreement
(IIA) on the budget with the European Parliament.
We expect the IIA to be agreed at some point
between March and May. Once the IIA and programme amounts have
been agreed with the European Parliament, the amounts for the
programmes will be slotted into the relevant regulations, and
the regulations will go on to be agreed between the Council and
the European Parliament, probably in the second half of this year.
I will continue to keep you up to date as we
move forward. If you require any further information, please contact
me.
30 January 2006
Letter from the Chairman to Rt Hon Alun
Michael MP
Thank you for your letter of 30 January in reply
to mine of 9 November 2005[43]
which Sub-Committee B considered at its meeting on 13 February
2006.
We were interested in the progress report that
you provided. We are maintaining scrutiny until full information
as to the financial aspect of the draft Regulation is available
for us to scrutinise.
15 February 2006
43 Correspondence with Ministers, 45th Report of Session
2005-06, HL Paper 243, p 214. Back
| 
