Latvia contributes to public consultation on EU budget review

In response to the call by the European Commission (EC), Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins has sent a letter to Dalia Grybauskaite, the European Commissioner for Financial Programming and Budget, expressing the position of the Government of Latvia on the issue.  

"Latvia fully supports the need to debate the priorities of the EU budget and will gladly take part in further discussions on the review of the EU budget," says the letter. Minister Riekstins expressed satisfaction that the EC has launched a wide-ranging consultation process, as it will encourage public participation and raise awareness about the EU budget review process.

Latvia's opinion was defined on the basis of the document Opinion of Latvia about the Communication from the European Commission "Reforming the Budget, Changing Europe" which was approved on 18 March in the Cabinet of Ministers. The document was drawn up in collaboration with ministries, secretariats of special assignments ministers, experts of the National Development Plan, and NGO representatives.   

The opinions of Latvia and other member states are now available on the web site of the EC Directorate-General for Budget: http://ec.europa.eu/budget/reform/index_en.htm.  

The public consultation will close on 15 June and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has invited everyone in Latvia to take active part in the debate on the EU budget review by expressing their opinion in the above web site.   

According to the decision of December 2005 of the European Council, the EC was asked to conduct a comprehensive and wide-ranging review of all aspects of EU expenditures and resources, including the Common Agricultural Policy and the rebate for the UK, with the objective of presenting a report in 2008 to 2009.  

To encourage a wide-ranging public consultation at local, regional, national, and EU level and to prepare for the talks on the EU budget review, which are expected to take place in 2008 to 2009, on 12 December 2007 the EC published a consultation document "Budget Reform, Changing Europe". This document outlines the more problematic aspects of the EU budget and raises issues for particular examination during the EU budget review.  

 

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