Brussels, 13/05/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 14 May, the European finance ministers will be called upon to agree to make two tranches available of the €11.2 billion needed to cover the unpaid bills from 2012.
The Irish Presidency has pledged to the European Parliament that it will seek to push through the immediate settlement of an initial tranche of €7.3 billion and secure the ministers' commitment to pay the balance of €3.9 billion before the end of this year. The Presidency proposes that investments linked to this initial tranche focus on sub-heading 1a (competitiveness for growth and employment) and sub-heading 1b (cohesion). These funds will be channelled into policies which strengthen growth in all regions of the EU (investment, education, research and innovation) and help to tackle the problem of unemployment (particularly youth unemployment), according to the Presidency's proposal on the draft amending budget no. 2 for 2013.
The Irish Presidency also proposes that the Council adopt a declaration confirming that the countries of the EU will come back to this issue at a later stage in 2013 (as regards the payment of the balance, or €3.9 billion).
A vote will be required at the Ecofin Council. However, the qualified majority required had not been achieved at the final preparatory meeting last week (see EUROPE 10842). Several states entered reservations on the level of the unpaid amounts. The UK and the Netherlands were the most reluctant to put their hands in their pockets, and their objections were shared by Austria, Sweden, Finland and Denmark.
“The European Parliament is prepared to have confidence, but not to end up the fall-guy”, MEP Guy Verhofstadt (ALDE, Belgium) warned on Monday, criticising the duplicity of certain European governments.
The negotiations on the multi-annual financial framework 2014-2020 kicked off with a trialogue on Monday 13 May, which started at around 5.00pm. The debates focused on four points: flexibility, a revision clause, own resources and budget unity. (LC/transl.fl)