Brussels, 02/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 28 February, Janusz Lewandowski, the European commissioner for the budget, replied to questions from MEPs from the “special committee on policy challenges and budgetary resources for a post-2013 sustainable European Union” (EUROPE 10326). He declared that “we cannot replace national contributions, which represent 76% of the EU budget, but my most ambitious objective would be to get a third of the budget” from our own resources.
Lewandowski admitted that finding new own resources was a difficult exercise, “but we need to try, nonetheless”. This does not mean increasing spending but changing the proportions between national contributions and real own resources, whilst respecting the spirit of the Treaty, indicated the commissioner. He affirmed that the option of taxing financial transactions (which is the preferred option of the S&D Group) was a possibility and there were also a number of alternatives. Financial activities could also be taxed (taxing companies participating in these activities).
The commissioner pointed out, however, the irreplaceable role of national contributions, which enabled the budget to be stabilised and spending to be planned. The six options for new own resources presented in the Commission's October communication on the re-examination of the budget are aimed at scaling down national contributions and replacing the current system of own resources based on VAT. These new own resources include taxation of the financial sector, European level VAT, an energy tax, corporation tax, revenue from the European Trading Scheme in emission quotas and a tax on air transport. The commissioner pointed out that with regard to the latter, the German government's attempts to tax flights from Germany “pushed the 'low-cost' industry towards relocating elsewhere. It is therefore difficult to impose tax deductions at a national level in Europe without leading to relocation of the industry”. (L.C./transl.fl)