DISPUTES among European Union member states about the budget of the union for 2007 to 2013 could jeopardise the chances of Bulgaria and Romania becoming EU members in 2007.
During debates in Brussels this past weekend about the budget, the major contributors to the EU budget - France, Germany and the United Kingdom - insisted that annual contributions should be kept within one per cent of the GDP of each member state.
However, the European Commission proposes to increase budget expenditures of 1.14 per cent of GDP in view of the increased need for funding for the new 10 member countries, and for Bulgaria and Romania, which are scheduled to join the Union in 2007.
The Luxembourg presidency suggested a compromise, 1.07 per cent of GDP.
According to international news agency reports, however, France and Ireland said they were against giving subsidies to Bulgaria and Romania from the current agricultural fund. Earlier, Italy said that it would withdraw its contribution from the agricultural fund if it was used to subsidise the two future members.
"Bulgaria hopes to be treated on an equal footing with the other countries in the drafting of the EU budget for the 2007-2013 period," said Foreign Minister Solomon Passi, who attended the meetings in Brussels.
He also took part in a meeting of the General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC).
This was the first such meeting attended by a Bulgarian Foreign Minister in his capacity as active observer, as the role is officially termed.
Following the signing of its EU accession treaty on April 25 in Luxembourg, Bulgaria was granted the status of "active observer" in various bodies and structures of the EU Council.
This status allows Bulgarian representatives to participate actively in discussions of issues being dealt with by the Council. However, the country is not allowed to take part in the decision-making.
"The Bulgarian Government agreed with the EU on 4.5 million euro in 2007-2009," Passi said in Sofia before leaving for Brussels. "Coming now are talks about the 2007-2013 period, as Bulgaria will insist on a higher figure for the four-year period following the first three-year one," he said. "The EU has set a ceiling of four per cent of GDP for the subsidy extended to the individual countries. In this context, Bulgaria is interested in posting a higher GDP because the higher it is, the bigger the EU subsidy will be."
Meanwhile, in other EU-related developments, European Affairs Minister Meglena Kuneva visited Austria and Slovakia.
"There will be no problems with Slovakia and Austria about the ratification of Bulgaria's accession treaty with the European Union," Kuneva said on returning from her visit.
Kuneva said that Bulgaria's efforts in the past few years were highly appreciated and the leaders of Slovakia and the Austria firmly approved of the results of Bulgaria's domestic policy.
The topics discussed in Slovakia included the two countries' common interest in the 2007-2013 financial package of the EU.
"All member states hope that the draft package would be ready before the end of the current Luxembourg-held EU presidency because under the next presidency, that of the UK, the completion of negotiations on the package may be accompanied by difficulties," Kuneva said.
In Slovakia, Kuneva met deputy prime minister for European affairs Pal Csaky, deputy prime minister for economy Pavol Rusko, foreign affairs minister Eduard Kukan and Tibor Mikus, chairman of the European issues committee.
"Slovakia is a very interesting partner for Bulgaria because it has a very good growth in investments and achievements in curbing unemployment; besides, it is a country where food prices dropped after its accession to the EU," Kuneva said.
At a discussion on "Bulgaria: Future Member of the EU", held in Vienna on May 19, it was emphasised that the sole reason for the safety clause in the accession treaty was that Bulgaria completed its negotiations years before its actual accession, which is without precedent in other countries, according to Kuneva.
Political developments in other Western countries were causing continuing concern in the past week.
The outcome of a state election in Germany, which saw chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democratic Party losing control of North Rhine -Westphalia for the first time in decades, was widely seen as opening the way for a possible delay in Germany ratifying Bulgaria's EU accession treaty. EU expansion has become a sensitive issue in Germany, and may become even more so if Schroeder goes ahead with his stated intention of bringing forward elections to later this year.
Also being watched with concern was the French referendum on the EU constitution, and the possible impact that a negative result could have on French domestic politics and in turn, the expansion process.