<b> New Concepts for the EU-Budget? </b>

On 1 January 2007, the German government will take over the EU-Presidency. To mark this occasion, the regional Office Brussels of the Heinrich Böll Foundation will host three events with representatives of the German Permanent Representation in the three months preceding the German presidency.<br>The first Böll Lunch Lecture in this series is dedicated to new concepts for the EU-budget. The new framework for the 2007-2013 Financial Perspectives agreed upon this year by Council, Commission and the European Parliament, is not appropriate to master the challenges the EU is facing. In spite of the enlargement, the significance of the budget in quantitative respect has decreased significantly for the coming years. Reforms are urgently needed. At the December Summit in Brussels, the heads of states and governments already agreed “that the EU should carry out a comprehensive reassessment of the financial framework, covering both revenue and expenditure, to sustain modernisation and to enhance it, on an ongoing basis.” In how far can the German EU-Presidency contribute to introduce a process of reform and modernisation and is it willing to develop the necessary new concepts for the EU-Budget? <br> <br> <b>Keynote Speaker</b>:<br> Thomas <b>Westphal</b>, Head of the Finance Department, Permanent Representation of Germany to the European Union <br> <br> <b>Discussants:</b> <br> Jorge <b>Nuñez Ferrer</b>, Associate Research Fellow, Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)<br> Stefan <b>Lehner</b>, Director, Directorate B, Budget Directorate-General, European Commission <br> <b>Chair:</b> <br> Claude <b>Weinber</b>, Director EU Regional Office Brussels, Heinrich Böll Foundation