Brussels, 21/11/2011 (Agence Europe) - The agreement on the 2012 budget is “way under the European Parliament's initial position”, says the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament (EP). It goes on to say, in a press release issued on Saturday 19 November, that “banking exclusively on austerity measures cannot be the only response to the crisis”.
Isabelle Durant, who was on the negotiating team and is an EP vice-president, says that “even if one has to be understanding of the extremely difficult budgetary situation in which many member states find themselves and of the resulting financial constraints, putting all one's eggs in the austerity basket cannot, however, be the only response to the crisis. Indeed, it only aggravates matters. Yet this was the position of the Council in budget negotiations yesterday”. She regrets that, apart from the EP's “capitulation” in the face of member states' intransigence, the European budget, as one of the few instruments still available to generate investment in Europe, create synergies, support research projects and local initiatives, and increase competitiveness throughout Europe, “has become the latest victim of blind austerity policy”. In this, she sees dealings that will end in the “dismantling of Europe”.
Durant takes the view that the budget only rarely takes account of the need to develop a greener economy and puts little emphasis on more sustainable policies. She repeats her criticism of the “completely out-of-all-proportion” ITER nuclear fusion reactor project which, in the best case scenario “will only produce results in 2050, if it produces any at all”. To fund ITER, reductions will very probably be imposed in the EU's 7th research framework programme (which, she claims, is more likely to deliver results), Durant laments. She also criticised the reduction in development aid spending.
The EPP Group in the EP, on the other hand, felt that this was a good agreement. “This agreement shows the will of the European institutions to send a message of hope and responsibility to citizens, taking into account the current difficult times of crisis. The budget 2012 will be especially focused on investment and action essential to promoting economic growth in the European Union”, said Giovanni La Via (Italy), the group spokesman on the 2012 budget. (LC/transl.rt)