Brussels, 07/07/2011 (Agence Europe) - An agreement was found on Thursday 7 July at the level of Coreper (EU Permanent Representatives' Committee) to reduce the Commission's proposal on the EU budget for 2012 by €3.6 billion in payment appropriations. The Council is at this stage going for payment appropriations of €129.09 billion, i.e. a rise of 2.02% compared to the 2011 budget (the Commission had suggested a rise of 4.9% in payment appropriations). Member states have fixed commitment appropriations totalling €146.2 billion for 2012 (€1.6 billion less than in the Commission proposal), i.e. +2.92% compared to 2011. The compromise does not cover the additional needs for ITER (€650 million for 2012).
Cuts by the Council are already being challenged by the Commission and Parliament. Six member states hope to vote against Coreper's position (the six member states at this stage in the procedure last year, plus the Czech Republic). The United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sweden and Austria are said to have wanted larger cuts in appropriations. Denmark and Finland regretted the over-large cuts in allocations under the heading “competitiveness” (including research funding) and not enough elsewhere.
The Presidency has informed delegations that the Council's stance on the budget for 2012 should be adopted by written procedure, due to end on 25 July. To sum up the Council's position: Heading 1a on competitiveness: payment appropriations, €11.4 billion (-1.7% compared to the 2011 budget and €1.1 billion less than in the initial Commission proposal), commitment appropriations, €14.5 billion (+7.4% compared to 2011); Heading 1b cohesion: payment appropriations, €43.8 billion (+5.2% compared to 2011, €1.3 billion less than the Commission proposal), commitment appropriations, €52.7 billion (+3.4%); Heading 2 resource management (agriculture): €57.1 billion in payment appropriations (+1.4% compared to 2011, €786 million less than the Commission proposal) and €59.6 billion in commitments (+1.6%); Heading 3 citizenship, freedom, security and justice: €1.4 billion in payment appropriations (-0.4% compared to 2011) and €1.9 billion in commitments (-2.5%); Heading 4 external action: €6.9 billion in payment appropriations (-3.4% compared to 2011 and €300 million less than the Commission proposal) and €9.2 billion in commitments (+5.1%); Heading 5 administrative spending: €8.2 billion in payments (+0.5% compared to 2011, -€73 million compared to the initial proposal) and €8.2 billion in commitment appropriations (+0.4%). (L.C./transl.jl)