Brussels, 04/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - At the trialogue meeting on Tuesday 3 September, the European Parliament (EP) and European Commission delegations spoke out against the cuts made by the Council in the draft EU budget for 2014.
At the trialogue meeting, the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of Ministers stressed that the position of the Council (see EUROPE 10913) was approved without no countries voting against and that the new programmes have been spared the budget cuts. The rapporteur on the 2014 budget at the EP, Anne Jensen, criticised the fact that the largest reductions in funding decided upon by the Council were made in areas felt by the EP to be of particular importance (heading 1a, competitiveness for growth and employment, and heading 4, external action).
Budget Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski stressed that the total proposed amount of the draft budget for 2014 was already below that of the 2013 budget (6% less in both commitments and payments). He said that, on 18 September, the Commission would propose a letter of amendment incorporating certain elements of the multi-annual financial framework (MFF) 2014-2020 into the draft 2014 budget (including the frontloading for Horizon 2020, COSME and Erasmus). The autumn letter of amendment (mid-October) will include the most recent estimates of agricultural expenditure.
The chairman of the committee on budgets, Alain Lamassoure (EPP, France), said that the EP is planning to vote on the MFF regulation on 9 or 23 October and on the text of the interinstitutional agreement. He reiterated that, before that, the EP needed guarantees from the Council that the remaining €3.9 billion of draft amending budget 2 for 2013 would be accepted (invoices outstanding).
The next trialogue on the 2014 budget will take place on 16 October. The EP is expected to adopt its position on the 2014 budget on 23 October. If the Council's and the EP's positions diverge, a three-week conciliation period will start on 24 October, expiring on 13 November. The Conciliation Committee will meet on 4 November and again on 11 November, in parallel with an Ecofin (Budget) Council. A trialogue is scheduled for 7 November. (LC/transl.fl)