Brussels, 02/12/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 2 December, the institutions of the EU entered the home straight of the negotiations on the budgetary package (amending budgets for 2014 and 2015 budget), following the breakdown of the conciliation procedure (on 17 November) and the presentation of the new Commission proposal (EUROPE 11207). A further trialogue will be held this Wednesday 3 December.
Pier Carlo Padoan, the Italian finance minister, will be leading the negotiations on the budget on behalf of the Council, following the dismissal of Enrico Zanetti, the Italian Secretary of State for Economic Affairs.
The positions of the institutions have been presented and the debates have so far focused on the amending budgets for 2014, specifically the unpaid bills. The president of the budget committee of the EP, Jean Arthuis (ALDE, France), is calling for an envelope of €4.7 billion and argues that the unexpected resources which have come in from fines (€5 billion) should be earmarked for paying these bills. The European Commission agrees, although it has reduced its 2014 estimate of requirements to €4 billion, to “stabilise the payment situation”. To pay the bills, the Council has agreed to make the contingency margin available, to use the margin (between the budget and the upper limit laid down by the multi-annual financial framework) below the limit to the tune of €361 million and to effect redeployments.
Negotiations will be resuming this Wednesday on a good head of steam, according to sources who predict that the 'white smoke' of an agreement on the budgetary package will not be seen until next week. The packet could then be approved in plenary by the European Parliament. (LC)