The Commission’s budgetary proposal is unacceptable!
The Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) can't accept the European Commission's proposal to grant only 10.5 million euros for twinning actions in 2005.
CEMR calls on the European parliament to ask for 12 million euros for twinning.
We ask the Parliament to vote in favour of the amendment presented by the rapporteur, Helga Trüpel, at the EP's Culture Commission meeting on 2 September, says CEMR secretary general Jeremy Smith. The amendment calls for the 2005 budget for twinning actions to amount to 12 million euros. When you know that the 2004 budget was 14 million euros and that since the latest enlargement the number of twinning actions between municipalities can only increase, it is not acceptable to see a reduced budget for twinning.
Twinning between municipalities and towns is part of the European Commission's programme on Active European citizenship. The total budget for that programme was some 26 million euros in 2004, with twinning amounting to 54% of that budget (14 million euros).
The Commission's budgetary proposal for the Active citizenship programme in 2005 is about 21 million euros.
Helga Trüpel' amendment will be debated at the EP Culture Commission's meeting on 13 September. The Budget Commission of the European Parliament will then vote on the amendments concerning the budget from all commissions early October 2004.
There are about 30,000 twinning links in Europe, most of them made possible by CEMR.
rn
Climate, Sustainable Finance Officer
