Brussels, 12/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - On the morning of Tuesday 12 November, the three institutions found a compromise in Brussels on the 2014 budget after a 16-hour trial of strength. This is the first budget under the new EU multiannual financial framework (MFF) for 2014-2020. The EU member states agreed to review the total level of payment appropriations upwards by €500 million in order to bring it to €135.5 billion. However, four countries (the UK, Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark) said that they were opposed to the agreement obtained by qualified majority, which still has to be formally adopted by the institutions. These four countries wanted a more reduced budget for 2014.
“I believe that today's agreement on the 2014 EU budget is a good start for the new programming period”, stated Lithuania's Deputy Minister for Finance Algimantas Rimkunas at the end of the Budget Council, which approved the compromise on the 2104 budget obtained during the conciliation meeting with the European Parliament. The current president of the Council added that the 2014 budget will enable payments for priority areas such as growth, employment, innovation and humanitarian aid. Financing has also been strengthened on migration, the Frontex agency, the European Asylum Support Office, Europol and three supervisory authorities which are important for the proper implementation of economic and monetary union.
European Commissioner for the Budget Janusz Lewandowski spoke of a “decent budget” for 2014 which, compared to the Commission's initial proposal, enables commitment appropriations to be strengthened and - for the first time in three years - payments too. In Lewandowski's view, this agreement is a good sign ahead of next week's plenary vote on the report approving the text of the EU 2014-2020 MFF. Asked about the issue of payment appropriations, he stated: “We have learned from the under-budgeting mistakes of the past. But of course, it's over the last two years of the MFF that we have had problems - like in 2012 and 2013 - because all the programmes are more advanced and the invoices are sent to the Commission”. He added: “We can't wait for an accumulation like this at the beginning of the MFF”.
In the view of Anne Jensen (ALDE, Denmark), the rapporteur on the 2014 budget, the result is a “budget of austerity”. “But I'm glad we have managed to guarantee more funding for growth policies for research, education, innovation and humanitarian aid in the Middle East”, she added. The Parliament “has taken its responsibility by accepting a lower budget. But we have managed to set good priorities and to guarantee that the EU does not begin next year in the red - with 2014 being the first year of the MFF”, stated the chair of the Parliament's budgets committee, Alain Lamassoure (EPP, France) (our translation throughout).
Total amount of 2014 budget. The Council and Parliament agreed on a total budget of €135.5 billion in payment appropriations, which represents a decrease of 9.4% compared to the 2013 budget (including all additional funds agreed by the Council and Parliament over the course of the year) and leaves a margin of €711.4 million. The total amount of commitment appropriations stands at €142.64 billion, which is 9.5% below the EU budget for 2013 and leaves a margin of €445.4 million.
The 2014 budget contains an envelope of €64 billion in commitments and €62.4 billion in payments to support inclusive and smart growth. The 2014 budget includes: €9 billion (commitments) and €6 billion (payments) for the research framework programme; €3.9 billion (commitments) and €900 million (payments) to kickstart the youth employment initiative; and €920 million (commitments) and €785 million (payments) for humanitarian aid, including for victims of the Syrian civil war and Lampedusa refugees.
Detail according to the different headings.
Heading 1a Competitiveness. Commitments are set at €16.5 billion (margin of €76 million under the ceiling of the MFF). Compared to the draft budget, commitments have been strengthened: by €212.2 million for the Horizon 2020 programme (research programme, with the total brought to €9 billion), by €137.5 million for Erasmus (total of €1.6 billion), by €31.7 million for the COSME programme (with the total brought to €275.3 million, COSME aims to strengthen the competitiveness of companies and SMEs), and by €2.1 million, €1.2 million and €2 million respectively for the three European financial supervisory authorities. Payments have been set at €11.4 billion (compared to €11.7 billion proposed in the draft budget).
Heading 1b Cohesion. Commitments stand at €47.5 billion (as initially proposed by the Commission). The flexibility instrument is mobilised up to €89.3 million to finance part of the €100 million envelope of additional appropriations (Structural Funds and European Social Fund) for Cyprus. For the aid to the most deprived, an additional amount of €134.9 million is planned (commitments), to be financed by the European Social Fund. Furthermore, the two macro-regional strategies for the Baltic Sea region and the Danube region receive €2.5 million in commitments beyond the draft budget of the Commission). The amount of payment appropriations is €51 billion (€51.1 billion in the draft budget).
Heading 2 Management of natural resources. The commitments stand at €59.3 billion, including €43.8 billion for market related expenditure and direct aid. The agreement incorporates letter of amendment no 2 for 2014 which updates agricultural expenditure. The margin under the ceiling for this heading is €35.8 million. Payments are set at €56.5 billion (as proposed in the draft budget).
Heading 3 Security and Citizenship. Commitment are set at €2.2 billion (margin of €7 million under the ceiling). Commitment appropriations for Frontex have been increased by €2 million (compared to the draft budget). Commitments for the European Asylum Support Office and for Europol have increased by €130,000 and €1.7 million respectively. Payment appropriations stand at €1.7 billion (as in the draft budget).
Heading 4 Global Europe. Commitments are set at €8.3 billion, which leaves a margin under the ridiculous ceiling of €10 million. Compared to the draft budget, the commitments have been reviewed upwards by €50 million for Palestine (total of €300 million) and by €15 million for humanitarian aid (to €874.5 million in total). Payment appropriations amount to €6.2 billion.
Heading 5 Administration. Commitments and payments are set at €8.4 billion (€8.6 billion in the draft budget), which allows a margin of €316 million. The number of staff in the EU institutions is reduced in line with the objective of a 5% cut in civil servants between 2013 and 2017.
Special instruments. The emergency aid reserve is €297 million in commitments and €150 million in payments. The European Globalisation Adjustment Fund is allocated €159.2 million in commitments and €50 million in payments. The EU Solidarity Fund is allocated €150 million (payments).
2013 Budget. The agreement between the institutions also affects draft amending budget no 9 for 2013 which provides for €400.5 million from the Solidarity Fund after the floods (€360.5 million for Germany, €21.7 million for Austria and €15.9 million for the Czech Republic) and the drought in Romania (€2.5 million). The compromise (the Parliament wanted fresh money, the Council wanted unused appropriation to be redeployed for this) provides for the following financing modalities: €250 million by redeployments of 2013 appropriations and €150 million will be financed in 2014.
Timetable for budget adoption. On 19 November, the Council will adopt the compromise on the 2014 budget as well as the amending budget for 2013. The European Parliament is expected to do the same on 20 November. It is on this date that the Parliament is likely to approve the MFF 2014-2020. (LC/transl.fl)