Brussels, 09/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament (EP), the Cypriot Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers and the European Commission will try to reach agreement on a joint statement on payment appropriations in the 2013 budget, so as to avoid there not being enough money to pay the bills. That was the main area where progress was made in the trialogue meeting on the 2013 budget that took place on Monday 9 July.
The Cypriot Presidency pointed out that the agreement reached by EU experts restricts increases in commitment appropriations and payment appropriations in 2013 to 1.3% and 2.8% respectively, compared with 2012 (see EUROPE 10650). On administrative spending, the Council is abiding by the “gentlemen's agreement” (under which the Council and Parliament do not question the other's budget), is not taking account of the 1.7% salary rise proposed by the Commission since the matter is currently before they Court of Justice of the EU, and is reducing its staff numbers by 1% in 2013 (and 5% over five years), as suggested by the Commission for all the institutions.
The EP representatives were critical of the Council decision to steeply reduce the Commission proposal for the 2013 budget, cutting back on growth and employment spending, even though EU leaders approved a growth pact on 29 June. They also called for more information on the €55 billion (of structural funding) earmarked for growth in this pact.
The EP also noted how important it was for the three institutions to agree on a common method of assessing payment appropriations. The Cypriot Presidency agreed to organise a meeting on the methodology of payment appropriation needs.
EP rapporteur on the budget, Derek Vaughan (S&D, UK), reproached the Council for treating all the EU institutions in the same way when assessing administrative spending. He pointed out that, in 2013, the EP was restricting itself to a 1.9% rise in its administrative expenditure, if no account is taken of needs deriving from the accession of Croatia to the EU in July 2013, or a rise of 2.4% if this is taken into account. He said that the Court of Justice was going to have to take on further judges to cope with the workload which is increasing year on year. The EP, then, is unhappy with the Council approach (budget cuts).
Negotiators also discussed implementation of the 2012 budget and the issue of the decentralised agencies (funding new needs).
European budget: who is in charge? Has the European Council's growth pact already been drained of all substance, wonders Alain Lamassoure, who chairs the EP budgets committee. “On 29 June, the European Council adopted a 'growth pact', calling for the Community budget to be used to support research and innovation and to boost growth, with the allocation of €55 billion in additional regional funding? One week later, the draft budget submitted by national civil servants has taken exactly the opposite direction. In 2013, spending on research will fall by 15%, aid to help small businesses be more competitive will be reduced by 28% and cohesion funding that is essential, in particular for those EU countries most in difficulty, far from increasing, will be cut by €1.6 billion”, he said on Monday. He wondered: “Who is to be believed? Who is in charge in Europe? Who is authorised to speak for the European Union? What credit, in all the meanings of the word, is to be given to the most formal decisions taken by European summits?” “This uncertainty is particularly unfortunate at this time when markets are unsure, economic players are hesitating, citizens are doubting and growth is collapsing”, he stated. (LC/transl.rt)