News from Brussels: Council and Parliament still want the Commission’s policy and planning officers for peacebuilding and crisis response to transfer to the External Action service.
Council and Parliament have agreed to maintain the budget reserve (see my post of 22 November for background and details). The reserve effectively denies the Commission the use of the funds for those staff members until the transfer occurs.
Parliament and Council plan to approve the general budget next week with the reserve intact.
It is up to the Commission, as the other two institutions see it, to present a proposal to transfer the staff dealing with crisis response and peacebuilding, as previously agreed.
Relatively speaking, the sum of money is not huge so the Commission is under no great pressure unless member states decide to intervene to support the Council and Parliament position.
Further developments awaited with interest.
