Amending budget 4/2005: budgeting the surplus from the implementation of the budget year 2004

 The committee adopted the report by Salvador GARRIGA POLLEDO (EPP-ED, ES) approving Draft amending budget No. 3/2005  (surplus 2004) unamended. Although they welcomed the fact that the surplus for the 2004 budget represented an improvement compared with 2003, MEPs nevertheless expressed dissatisfaction with the EUR 2.7 billion surplus and said that "the challenges that the European Union is facing today cannot justify such an underspending, in particular in Headings 3 and 4 of the financial perspective as well as pre-accession aid". They called for a better level of implementation to be obtained in 2005 so that the surplus could be significantly reduced.