Brussels, 08/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 7 October, the committee on budgets of the European Parliament decided to earmark 4.27 billion euros more than under the draft budget for 2015 presented by the European Commission, in order to avoid any payment default and reduce the 'remainder to be liquidated' and the gap between the commitment appropriations and the payment appropriations.
The budget committee also added extra credits for the priority policies to promote growth and employment and humanitarian aid in areas stricken by war.
The parliamentary committee simply cancelled the cuts of 522 million euros in commitments and of 2.1 billion euros in payments made by the Council. It even added credits on top of the European Commission's proposal, in priority areas. The committee on budgets of the EP is looking at a draft budget for 2015 of 146.3 billion euros in commitments (749 million more than in the draft presented by the Commission) and of 146.4 billion euros for payments (the EP has suggested going beyond the upper limit of the financial framework by four billion, in order to solve the problem of payments and unpaid invoices).
"Priority programmes to stimulate growth, enhance competitiveness and foster job creation were backed by the European Council itself. Yet EU member states have failed to back up their commitment with sufficient funding. The EU budget is an investment tool which can provide life-saving resources to small firms, NGOs and local authorities", said Eider Gardiazábal Rubial (S&D, Spain), rapporteur on the general budget of the EU for 2015.
SMEs, research and education. The parliamentary committee has cancelled the cuts made by the Council to the 2015 budget and recommended adding 190.5 million euros for small and medium-sized enterprises, research and education (an extra 24 million euros for the Erasmus + programme). A proportion of this amount will be used to develop energy and broadband networks in the EU.
Emergency humanitarian aid. In order to allow the EU to meet its international commitments, the budget committee added 400 million euros to the amount requested by the European Commission for humanitarian aid, in Syria for example, for the neighbourhood policies (Ukraine) and for a support programme operated by the UN in Palestine. It also added 6.1 million euros to the funds allocated by the Commission and the Council to the banking supervision agencies of the EU: European Banking Authority (EBA), the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). Farmers and fishermen hit by the Russian ban on their exports should receive 30 million and five million euros more respectively, according to the committee on budgets. The EU aid fund for its most deprived citizens should get 16.7 million euros more, the committee recommended.
More funds to settle bills. The parliamentary committee added four billion euros to the European Commission's proposal, in order to guarantee that the invoices for programmes underway are paid and in order to avoid any serious payment default. The budgets committee stressed that the requirements for additional payments in 2014 should be settled before concluding the negotiations on the 2015 budget, in the hope of avoiding this year's debt being rolled over to 2015.
Next steps. Parliament as a whole will vote on its position on the draft 2015 budget on 22 October. Conciliation with the Council will start on 28 October. The aim is to conclude an agreement between the Parliament and the Council on the 2015 budget, which will be voted on by the Parliament on 26 November and signed by its President. (LC)