Brussels, 14/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 14 October, Coreper (the committee of member states' permanent representatives to the EU) reached a qualified majority agreement on the Council of Ministers' view on a series of amendments to the EU budget for 2013. The amendments include draft amending budget No. 8 for 2013 to settle the outstanding €3.9 billion in payment appropriations (€3 billion of which from the Structural Funds, see EUROPE 10941). The European Parliament says that agreement must be reached on settling the unpaid bills before the parliament will endorse the EU's multiannual financial framework (MFF) for 2014-2020. The Parliament may vote on the MFF on 23 October, but only if the three EU institutions reach rapid agreement on a compromise on reform of Cohesion Policy (a three-way meeting is scheduled for Monday evening, see separate article).
Five countries have indicated that they do not go along with the three amending budgets, namely the United Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands. The same countries voted in July against €7.3 billion, the first instalment to pay off the outstanding bills.
Spain finally agreed to go along with amendments, although they put the country in an uncomfortable position. Spain will receive a lot of the outstanding funding, but the financing of the amendments will be difficult given its current budget constraints. The Council's position on the amendments has yet to be formally adopted, probably using the written procedure, starting in the next few days.
Revenue. Draft amending budget No. 6 for 2013 aims to solve the problem of below-forecast VAT and customs duties of €383.8 million and €4.0 billion respectively, although income from fines has increased to €1.2 billion and income from member states' Gross National Income has increased by €3.1 billion. The new contribution requested of the EU member states and agreed upon by the Council of Ministers is for a total of €2.8 billion.
Drought and floods. The European Commission unveiled draft amending budget No. 9 for 2013 to help Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic repair the damage caused by floods in the summer, and also to help Romania cope with the severe drought and forest fires in the summer of 2012. Total aid of €400.5 million has been agreed upon from the EU Solidarity Fund for Germany (€360.5 million), Austria (€21.7 million), the Czech Republic (€15.9 million) and Romania (€2.5 million). The payments are covered by redeployments identified by the Commission in the so-called global transfer of €509 million.
Payment appropriations. On 25 September, the European Commission published draft amending budget No. 8 for 2013 to request a €3.9 billion increase in the 2013 budget, which the Council of Ministers has agreed to. This amount complements the €7.3 billion approved by the member states on 9 July. The Council's position on this draft amending budget is subject to the European Parliament's consent to the regulation setting out the EU's multiannual financial framework (MFF) for 2014-2020.
Before it will endorse the MFF, the Parliament wants clarifications about the new high-level working group on reform of the EU's own resources. Coreper will discuss this working group on Wednesday. (LC/transl.fl)