Welcoming the final vote, Dalia Grybauskaité, Commissioner for Financial Programming and Budget, said: "Financial resources for the enlarged Europe are now secured. The European priorities have been respected. We have increased funding to support the Lisbon Strategy, to promote freedom, peace, liberty and justice, and to reinforce information to citizens and the debate on the future of the Union."
The 2005 budget for EU 25 amounts to EUR106.3 billion in payment appropriations. This represents 1.004% of the EU Gross National Income (GNI) and is an increase of 4.4% compared to the budget for 2004. The rise is due to the full incorporation of the 10 new Member States and the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy.
"The new neighbourhood policy is now secured. Commitments for pre-accession aid amount to EUR2.1 billion. For the first time Croatia is included under this strategy and will receive more intense support. EUR105 million in commitments is available for 2005, which is an increase of 60% on 2004. EUR120 million is also committed in the budget to aid the economic development of the Turkish Cypriot Community. Pre-accession aid will continue to cover Romania and Bulgaria (EUR1 552 million in commitments) and Turkey (EUR286.2 million in commitments)" read a press release issued by the European Union on Thursday.
On 6 October this year, the European Commission published its pre-accession strategy for Croatia. The document reads that Croatia should use all the three pre-accession financial instruments: PHARE for the building of institutions and social cohesion, ISPA for environment and transport, and SAPARD for rural development. In 2005 Croatia can expect 80 million euros in line with PHARE programmes and 25 million euros in line with ISPA programmes.