Brussels, 06/09/2010 (Agence Europe) -The budget commissioner, Janusz Lewandowski, on Monday set an explosive backdrop for the budgetary review scheduled for the end of the year and for the forthcoming negotiations on the multi-annual budget of the EU for 2014-2020 by stating that “the British rebate has lost its original justification” and pleading in favour of a reduction in agricultural expenditure. “The volume of the rebate will fall from €6 billion in 2009 to nearly €3 billion in 2011. Even so, I believe that the British rebate has lost its original justification”, Lewandowski told the German daily newspaper Handelsblatt
of 6 September.
The commissioner's words are likely to go down very badly in London, where the new coalition government of David Cameron is determined to defend tooth and nail the “cheque” negotiated by Margaret Thatcher in 1984. “Of course they will defend the rebate. They will be extremely difficult negotiations”, Lewandowski admitted, calling on the British to “accept” the fact that the circumstances which justified the rebate in the 1980s have changed completely, particularly with GDP per head of population in the United Kingdom having increased “considerably” whilst the share of agriculture in the total expenditure of the EU has fallen “considerably”. “Mr Lewandowski has never called for an end to the British rebate”, but merely observed that its initial justification has disappeared, said the spokesperson to the budget commissioner on Monday, putting things into perspective. He stressed that Lewandowski's words reflected his own “personal opinion” and that the Commission has not yet defined its position on this delicate topic. It is known that the Commission is due to present its communication on the budget review in early October (no precise date has so far been set). This will be used as a starting point for the negotiations on the forthcoming financial framework 2014-2020, which will start in 2011. The review will cover all aspects of the expenditure and resources of the EU, “including the British rebate”, the spokesperson stressed on Monday. The Commission's document will be “neutral, objective and rational” and will put forward several reform options on both the expenditure and revenue sides, he said. As regards revenue, the Commission will go no further for the time being than to present an “objective analysis” of a number of possible own resources. “The political decision as to whether or not we will propose new own resources will not be taken until 2011”, Lewandowski explained in Handelsblatt. He also pleaded for an “adaptation” of the CAP and the cohesion policy and for a reduction in agricultural aid, but did not mention any figures. “It is clear to me that the proportion of agricultural aid in the budget 2020 must be lower than it is today in order to free up funds for research and development and other global ambitions” of the EU, he said. (H.B./transl.fl)