Brussels, 27/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament (EP) confirmed on Thursday 23 June that it supported the 4.9% increase in payment appropriations for the EU's 2012 budget, as proposed by the Commission. In adopting its mandate ahead of the budget trialogue, the EP says it “is convinced that the proposed level of payments represents the bare minimum required to honour EU legal commitments made in previous years”. It points out that the bulk of this increase is linked to legal needs arising in relation to the 7th Research Programme and the structural and cohesion funds.
The EP urges the Council “to refrain from cutting the proposed level of payments”. It also expresses its intention “to keep the level of payments at the level proposed by the European Commission”.
2020 strategy. The EP notes Commission estimates that, in terms of commitment appropriations, 43.5% of the draft 2012 budget contributes to achievement of the objectives of the EUROPE 2020 strategy. The EP says that this is positive, but not enough.
Not repaying some of the surplus to countries. The EP notes that draft amending budget 3/2011 shows a budgetary surplus of €4.54 billion in payments in 2010, €1.28 billion of which comes from fines and interest on late payments. It suggests that, instead of deducting the revenue from fines and interest on late payments from the GNI-based own resources, this revenue should be entered in the EU budget in a “reserve for appropriations” intended to cover any extra payment needs which may arise in the course of the year.
Agriculture. Among the remarks on column 2, in which agriculture features, the EU calls for a further reduction in export refunds and regrets that tobacco production in the EU continues to be subsidised “which is contrary to the objectives of EU health policy”.
JHA. The EP says that the European Union should adopt a more welcoming stance towards refugees, especially in view of the war in Libya and the continued brutal repression of demonstrations against the regimes in several Arab countries. It wonders, therefore, whether the draft budget presented by the Commission provides a response that is in line with the challenges currently facing the EU, not least in the context of the on-going events in the Southern Mediterranean. MEPs restate their call for an appropriate and balanced answer to these challenges, “with a view to the management of legal migration and slowing down of illegal migration”. With its adoption of the EPP amendment, the EP “takes note of the repeated calls by the European Council to strengthen the operational capacity and role of FRONTEX, in a period of increasing migration pressures”. It calls on the Commission to present the full budgetary implications for 2012 of on-going revision of FRONTEX and to provide a clearer picture of member states' financial participation in the operation of this agency. (L.C./transl.rt)