Brussels, 28/07/2011 (Agence Europe) - Speaking in London on Wednesday 27 July, French Minister of the Economy François Baroin, in a position shared by his UK counterpart George Osborne, was critical of the contradiction between the austerity policies being conducted by European governments and the Commission proposal on the next EU financial framework 2014-2020. “There is a contradiction between the policies to bring public finances under control and reduce public deficits which all countries are pursuing vigorously … and the European institutions which want to ask for increases that we do not agree with”, he stated. “From this point of view, Mr Osborne and I share the same vision, the same insistence. It is just not possible to take two differing lines on an issue of this importance”, Baroin said after a meeting with the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer.
The Commission has proposed capping EU expenditure at 1.05% of EU gross national income (GNI), or €1,025 billion, for the 2014-2020 period. The Commission has made provision, however, for the addition of an extra-budgetary envelope of €58.3 billion to fund inter alia the European Development Fund, which will amount to €30 billion over the period, appropriations for ITER, Galileo, the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund, the Solidarity Fund, the Flexibility Instrument and the reserve for crises in the agricultural sector. The grand total comes to €1,083.3 billion, therefore, or 1.11% of EU GNI - an increase of 5% on the current financial framework. (L.C./transl.rt)