Proposed Budget 2008

44,2% Cohesion and Competitiveness for growth and employment
32,9% Direct aids and market related expenditure
10,7% Rural development
5,4% The EU as a global partner
1,0% Citizenship, freedom, security and justice
5,7% Total Administrative expenditure
0,1% Compensations for Bulgaria and Romania

The Commission adopted the Preliminary Draft Budget (PDB) for 2008 – the first step in the budgetary procedure before the budget is finally approved by the European Parliament and the Council.

Commitment appropriations in the PDB are at the level of 1.03% of EU Gross National Income (GNI), and payment appropriations at 0.97% of GNI. Spending on growth and employment policies increases by +4.2% compared to 2007, to reach 44.2% of the budget, against 43.6% for the protection and management of natural resources, including the Common Agricultural policy.

The renewed Lisbon Strategy remains at the core of EU policy. EUR 57.2 billion will be spent on policies related to growth and employment (heading 1), i.e. 2.3 billion more (+4.2%) than in 2007. In particular, research expenditure will increase by some 11%, investments in trans-European energy and transport networks by 14%, and lifelong learning programmes by 9% (with 63,5% increase for Erasmus Mundus). Moreover, the new programmes to support cohesion across Europe will kick-in, boosting expenditure in this field by almost EUR 1.4 billion, or 3.1%, of which Cohesion Fund devoted to big infrastructural projects will increase by more then 14% in 2008.