Brussels, 22/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 21 February, the European Commissioner for financial planning and the budget, Janusz Lewandowski, welcomed the Council's positions on the 2013 budget guidelines, which he believes, “are closer than some claim” (EUROPE 10557). In a press release he declared, “Like the Council, the Commission is deeply convinced that in the current economic and financial crisis, the EU budget must find savings and efficiency measures wherever possible, that we must find a balance between savings and investment and that the draft budget proposed by the Commission must be as accurate as possible”. He said that on the question of administration expenditure, the Council urges all institutions to provide financing only for real needs, which, “echoes the letter I sent to all EU institutions last January in which I called on them to find savings in administration expenditure” (EUROPE 10537). He also stated that any increase in the EU budget must be justified, while at the same time funding must be adequate to honour past commitments agreed by member states. (MB/trans/fl)