Brussels, 09/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 6 July, the European Commission adopted an amended proposal for the 2014-2020 multiannual financial framework, adding €8 billion. This technical update responds to the budgetary impact of Croatia's accession to the EU (+€13.7 billion in commitment appropriations, including €8.7 billion in cohesion expenditure and €3.5 billion on agricultural spending, and +€9.9 billion in payment appropriations) and the effects of the most recent economic data affecting member states' allocations under structural funds (-€5.5 billion).
The Commission is now proposing an overall ceiling of €1,033 billion, or 1.08% of EU gross national income (GNI) in commitment appropriations for the 2014-2020 period as opposed to €1,025 billion (1.05% of EU GNI) in the original proposal. In payments, the amended proposal amounts to €988 billion (1.03% of EU GNI) as opposed to €972 billion originally (1.00% of EU GNI).
“Today's update does not change anything to the substance of our original proposal; this is a purely mechanical exercise”, said EU Budget Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski. “There have been economic and political developments since we presented our proposal last June”, he argued. He called on the Council and the European Parliament to agree on the multiannual financial framework (MFF) by the end of the year, in line with the conclusions of the recent European Council.
“In the face of the current crisis, the EU needs a timely agreement on the MFF to show its capacity to act decisively in support of growth and jobs and to provide a stable investment horizon for member states and economic operators until 2020”, he stated.
The discussions, which are likely to last until the end of 2012, are proving very difficult because of the general climate of austerity in Europe. The three main contributors to the European Union budget, Germany, France and the United Kingdom, have called for the forthcoming financial perspectives for 2014-2020 to be frozen at the level of that scheduled for 2013, the last year of the current programming period. The Commission suggests the funding for agriculture be set at around €385 billion for the seven-year period. France, which is the main beneficiary of the common agricultural policy, has demanded that not a single euro be removed from the agriculture budget. (LC/transl.rt)