Brussels, 16/05/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 15 May 2013, the European Parliament said that the conditions laid down by the EU member states for an increase in the 2013 budget were “unacceptable” and warned that money would run out in November for financing action to encourage jobs for young people.
The biggest political group at the EP, the EPP, describes as “unacceptable” the extension of €7.3 billion agreed upon by the ECOFIN Council on Tuesday (see EUROPE 10845) for the 2013 budget “with a vague declaration on the remaining amount to be paid ou”' later in the year.
On 14 May, the ECOFIN Council gave the go-ahead in principle to the €7.3 billion budget extension to fill the funding gap of €11.2 billion identified by the Commission. In a policy statement, the Council admits that this might not be enough for 2013 and therefore asked the Commission to unveil a new amending budget by mid-October “if necessary”.
The EP rapporteur on the 2013 budget, Giovanni La Via (EPP, Italy), calls for the full €11.2 billion right now. He explained in a press release: “We regret the outcome of yesterday's meeting in which the Council expressed its wish to only agree to the amount of €7.3 billion out of 11.2, with a vague declaration on the remaining amount to be paid out (...) The Council's attitude would result in a lack of money as early as July 2013, putting in danger the vital support for European enterprises and youth which are our priorities for boosting EU growth. In this case, the Council should take full responsibility for the interruption of important EU programmes”.
This position jeopardises the Irish Presidency's aim of reaching agreement with the European Parliament on the multiannual financial framework (MFF) for 2014-2020 by the summer. MEPs are demanding political guarantees about an extension of the 2013 budget by €11.2 bn before they will agree to enter new talks on the MFF 2014-2020.
French conservative MEP Alain Lamassoure, chair of the EP's Budgets Committee, told AFP that the position of the member states is untenable because in November this year, there will be a shortfall of €2.5 billion for financing action under the European Social Fund. He said that the EP does not want to be blamed for delays in the talks on the MFF for 2014-2020. He said the talks had started on Monday and would be continued and even speeded up. He said the EP wanted to cross swords next week to find out to what extent the EP's partners are open to the EP demands for greater flexibility and a revision clause. If they remain closed to the idea, warned Lamassoure, then the negotiations will not succeed.
Hannes Swoboda, head of the S&D group at the EP, also warns that if the Council refuses to budge, then there will not be any agreement. He said that the Council's commitment to the draft amending budget did not go far enough, because the real deficit is in the order of at least €16 billion and this money is due to requests for payment from the member states themselves. Swoboda said it was unacceptable for governments to pledge money from the EU budget and then refuse to pay the bill. He added that he couldn't accept the MFF for 2014-2020 until there are guarantees about the payment of the outstanding invoices. He regretted the fact that some governments have no desire to reach agreement with the EP on the MFF despite the EP's budget demands being reasonable he said (wanting more flexibility in the use of funding, a compulsory review of the budget after the 2014 elections and a review of the way the EU budget is financed). The ADLE, chaired by former Belgian pm Guy Verhofstadt, said on Wednesday that it , too, is taking the same line.
The French president, François Hollande, and the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, called on Wednesday for rapid agreement with the EP in order to bring forward the first financing planned for 2014 so that the first action for youth employment can begin in June or July. (LC/transl.fl)