Brussels, 09/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - This Wednesday 10 September, the College of European Commissioners will hold a debate on the payment appropriations situation in the EU budget, at a time when every service is directly affected by the lack of financial resources.
Readers may recall that, on 11 June, the Commission presented its draft budget 2015, of a total of €145.6 billion in commitment appropriations and a total of €142.1 billion in payment appropriations. On 2 September, the Council adopted its position, trimming €2 billion off the level of payment appropriations proposed by the Commission. These cuts made by the Council relate mainly to columns 1a (economic growth) and 4 (external action).
The Commission stresses that it is entirely normal to end the year with €5-6 billion in unpaid bills (the invoices sent in by the member states come in too late to be examined and settled before the end of December). In recent years, however, these unpaid invoices have crept up to €11 billion, then to €16 billion, and then to €23.4 billion (end of 2013).
At the same time, the Council has been chopping the payment appropriations proposed by the Commission since 2010. Additionally, the member states have been handing new competences over to the EU for the last several years. All of this has the effect of piling more and more pressure onto the budget: payment needs are on the increase, but the money available is falling. The Commission presented its amending budgets to obtain additional payment appropriations (see other article). (LC)