Brussels, 05/01/2010 (Agence Europe) - As part of his forthcoming public hearing to be held during the afternoon of 11 January in Brussels, Janusz Lewandowski, Commissioner-designate for the Budget and Financial Planning, will present his political priorities and commitments to the EP budgets committee for the next five years. In his responses to the questionnaire put to him by committee members prior to the hearing, he defends a new, reformed financial framework (post-2013) as well as greater flexibility compared to the current financial framework.
The former chairman of the EP budgets committee plans to organise his agenda around three points. First of all, he hopes to ensure smooth adoption of the 2011 budget (according to a procedure taking place during the second half of 2010), in line with rules set out in the new institutional framework arising from the Lisbon Treaty. This comprises the creation of a new conciliation committee as well as amendments to the procedure and ways of negotiating, due to the single reading process.
The commissioner-designate also hopes to actively manage the current multiannual financial framework, in order to improve the quality of annual budget implementation and to meet forthcoming challenges. The new Commission under José Manuel Barroso will judge whether it is necessary to adjust the current multiannual financial framework when it presents its report on the functioning of the inter-institutional agreement (IIA) on budgetary discipline. Janusz Lewandowski pointed out that the margin of manoeuvre, especially with regard to Heading 1a (competitiveness for growth and employment) and Heading 4 (EU external action) is very limited.
Thirdly, Janusz Lewandowski will promote interinstitutional consensus on and growing adoption of the next financial perspectives package. This involves a “new, reformed” multiannual financial framework, Lewandowski's response to the questionnaire says. The difficult budgetary situation prevailing in EU countries after the financial crisis underlines the need to focus the EU budget on key priorities to help the EU raise well known challenges such as: - heightened EU competitiveness in a global economy, climate change and security of energy supply sources. “These political choices will need to be translated into a balanced package that makes it possible to simultaneously consolidate the traditional policies and to respond to future challenges, while maintaining sound budgetary discipline”, Lewandowski states. Proposals on the next financial framework will be presented by the Commission during the first half of 2011.
With entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, provisions of the interinsitutional agreement should be transposed into a legal instrument and adjusted where appropriate. A legislative package (regulation on the multiannual financial framework and a new interinstitutional agreement) should be presented by the Commission “as soon as possible”, the commissioner-designate states. He feels, however, that it is unlikely the package will be in place before the start of the 2011 budgetary procedure (which starts about May 2010). Therefore, it may be, he says, that the rules of the current IIA will continue to apply as well as the transitional rules for budgetary procedure, including the rules for the conciliation committee which will be agreed before the end of April 2010.
The commissioner-designate announces that the Commission is to present, in May 2010, a “fast-track revision” of the financial regulation, concerned specifically with the creation of the European External Action Service (EEAS) in order to take its sui generis nature into account.
Janusz Lewandowski also plans to present the communication on budgetary review, for which the proposal by the former Commission was so criticised. He believes it is necessary for this text to reflect the priorities set out in the EU 2020 strategy to be presented by the Commission on growth and employment, to be endorsed by EU leaders during the European Council in March. (V.L.B./L.C./transl.jl)