Brussels, 14/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - At the Coreper (Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Member States to the EU) meeting on Tuesday 15 July, the member states will try to reach an agreement by qualified majority on the Council's position on the draft EU budget for 2015.
The biggest issue is the level of payment appropriations. The “net contributor” countries, which include Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark, are calling for considerable flexibility to be kept within the ceiling of the multi-annual financial framework (MAFF) of the EU, to allow the EU to cover any unanticipated needs and fund the special instruments from within the ceiling. The so-called cohesion countries, such as Poland and Hungary, on the other hand, take the view that the level of payment appropriations proposed by the European Commission (€142.1 billion in total, representing an increase of 4.9% on the 2014 budget) is necessary to cover the arrears of previous years and the new programmes under the MAFF.
A meeting of the Ecofin Council (budget configuration) will be held on Thursday 17 July, should Coreper fail to agree on the Council's position on the draft budget 2015. This would be the first time since the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force that the Budget Council has had to meet to agree on its position on the draft EU budget.
Draft amending budgets for 2014. On Thursday 10 July, the European Commission adopted a draft amending budget (the fourth for 2014) providing for a reduction of €248,460 in credits for the European Data Protection Supervisor, and, more significantly, a decrease in the own resources requirement of €2.059 billion.
The second draft amending budget for 2014, which budgetised the 2013 surplus (€1.01 billion), was approved by the Council on Monday 14 July (by written procedure). Draft amending budget number three concerns the payment arrears (€4.738 billion), €4.027 billion of which would be covered by the “contingency margin” and €711 million by the margin below the ceiling. This amending budget contains an increase in the estimates of other income of €1.568 billion. The Council does not yet have a position on this third amending budget.
However, the Commission has pointed out that, if the various draft budgets for 2014 are added together, the payment appropriations requirements would stand at €105 million euros (€4.7 billion from which €1.01 billion, €1.6 billion and €2.06 billion are to be deducted). (LC)