The Minister's letter
12.5 In his letter of 10 January 2007, the Secretary
of State for Defence (Mr Des Browne) says that our suggestion
indicates "some misunderstanding of the process here".
He continues as follows:
"The Joint Action establishing the EDA was adopted
in July 2004, and is required to be reviewed every three years.
Therefore, this review will take place in 2007, not in 2008. This
review will occur prior to the requirement to set the three year
Financial Framework by the end of 2007, as agreed at the General
Affairs and External Relations Council in November.
"During the course of the review of the Joint
Action, we will look at whether the requirement to set a three
year Financial Framework is useful. If the review confirms this
requirement, we will endeavour to set a three year Financial Framework
by the end of 2007. That said, we do not expect the Financial
Framework as it currently stands to emerge from the review of
the Joint Action".
12.6 In the meantime, the Secretary of State has
outlined further details of current EDA funding in a letter of
8 January 2007 to our House of Lords' counterparts. He explains
that:
- the UK contribution to the
EDA budget is 17.57% and that an increase of €5 million in
the operational budget for the 2007-09 Financial Framework would
therefore mean an increase in the UK contribution of approximately
€880,000, or approximately £590,000;
- over the period 2007-09 the EDA were hoping for
an operational budget of:
