Brussels, 22/07/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 22 July, the European Commission said that it had not yet formally adopted its decision on financial discipline for 2014. It will do so in September.
Readers may recall that, in late March, the Commission proposed a reduction of 4.98% (or €1.47 billion) in direct aid to be paid out in 2014 (requests for the year 2013), in order to comply with the upper limit on expenditure agreed by the heads of state and government in February for the financial year 2014. The Council and European Parliament had until 30 June to take position in co-decision on this draft. Under the rules, if they failed to agree by this date, the Commission would set the rate for the reduction in direct payments the 2013 itself. And, if any subsequent adjustment should prove necessary in order to take account of the most recent expenditure forecasts, the decision would be made by the Council alone.
Before the Commission adopts the proposal, it needs to go through the advisory procedure in committee. This will be done in September. In mid-October, the Commission will present (as usual) an amending letter to the draft budget 2014 in order to provide a more up-to-date indication of budget needs for agriculture. This could lead to an adjustment of the rate of financial discipline.
For its part, the European Parliament wishes to limit any reduction in direct aid to 0.75%, taking account of the financial framework 2014-2020 of the EU proposed by the Commission, rather than the one agreed upon in February by the heads of state and government. (LC/transl.fl)