Brussels, 20/12/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 20 December, a European Commission spokesperson quizzed about the letter calling for tighter control of EU spending sent to the European Commission by five member states (Germany, France, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden) said: “The EU budget is not for Brussels but for Europe. The EU budget is set to drive competitiveness, growth and jobs in the EU and to create added value and to support efforts by member states in the current context of austerity.” The spokesperson pointed out that 22 other member states take a different line and may want to submit their views to the Commission. Pointing out that a consultation process has now begun over the post-2013 multiannual budget (the “financial framework”) that will end with the Commission unveiling draft legislation in June 2011, the spokesperson recommended a political debate on the basic issues in order to decide on the EU's priorities for the future before deciding on the amount of cash needed to put them into practice. In March 2011, the European Council will discuss energy issues and innovation, and these will also impact on the EU's budget.
Several MEPs have raised their voices at the European Parliament, calling for restraint in EU spending. In a press release, the chair of the European Parliament's budgets committee, Alain Lamassoure (EPP, France), said that if the EU's financial policy were decided in Berlin, budget policy in London, farm policy in Paris, regional policy in Poland, military security in Washington, energy supplies in Moscow and the future of Europe nowhere at all, then that would spell the end of Europe. He called on the European Council to add a “European solidarity pact” to the Stability and Growth Pact that would “fairly” share out and pool funding for policies of the future in order to rebuild national economies that have been severely weakened by the crisis. He added that Europe's common future should not be decided upon in a few hours, in secret, by a few nameless initiates from a handful of countries, but should instead be decided openly and democratically, in public, after a truly European debate, putting everything on the table and involving all parliaments and public opinion from every European Union country.
The chair of the EPP Group, Joseph Daul (France), slammed the “populist attitude” of British Prime Minister David Cameron who, with a few other European leaders, wants to see a scaled-back European budget (see related article). Daul said that his Europe was not the same as Mr Cameron's, without any political ambition or enough resources to carry them out. Daul said that any country challenging the long-term investment Europe needs in order to be competitive in a globalised world would find the EPP Group and most of the European Parliament against them.
Better spending. On Saturday 18 December, Germany, France, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom sent a joint letter to the European Commission calling for tighter control over EU spending. The five countries explain: “European public spending cannot be exempt from the considerable efforts made by the member states to bring their public spending under control. ... It is possible to implement ambitious European policies for our citizens if we have a stable volume of spending. ...Two measures (should be taken): The action taken in 2011 to curb annual growth in European payment appropriations should therefore be stepped up progressively over the remaining years of this financial perspective and payment appropriations should increase, at most, by no more than inflation over the next financial perspectives. ...The commitment appropriations over the next multiannual financial framework should not exceed the 2013 level with a growth rate below the rate of inflation... The challenge for the European Union in the coming years will not be to spend more, but to spend better.”
Europe cannot live beyond its means. Everywhere in Europe, countries are tightening their belts to deal with their deficits and Europe cannot escape from this either. We need genuine budget restraint from 2014 onwards, commented the British prime minister, David Cameron, on Friday 17 December as he emerged from the European Council (see EUROPE 10280). The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, said that France was not calling for a cut in the EU budget but rather for it to be stabilised at a time when member states are making efforts to reduce their own budgets. (M.B./transl.fl)