Brussels, 02/12/2014 (Agence Europe) - Kristalina Georgieva is largely optimistic about the chances of a compromise in the near future on the 2015 budget and being able to avoid the 'provisional twelfths'. Trialogue negotiations (Parliament, Council and Commission) will be held on Tuesday 2 December and Wednesday 3 December (see other article).
The Council of the EU and the European Parliament failed to agree, within the deadline (midnight on 17 November) laid down by the conciliation procedure, on the various elements of the budgetary package, specifically the amending budgets for 2014 and the 2015 budget (EUROPE 11199). The Commission then presented a new draft budget for 2015 (EUROPE 11207).
“I believe that we will reach a compromise, because in the first round of negotiations, we were not far from agreement. The stumbling block was not the figures, but the principles”, the Budget Commissioner, Kristalina Georgieva, told the press on Tuesday 2 December. She referred notably to the question of the special instruments (emergency aid reserve, Solidarity Fund, flexibility instrument, globalisation adjustment fund), over which the Council and the EP are at loggerheads. The EP (and the Commission) are calling for the special instruments to be funded above the upper limit of the multi-annual financial framework (MAFF) 2014-2020, whereas the Council would like these instruments to be funded within the upper limit.
According to Kristalina Georgieva, the new draft budget for 2015 takes account of the positions of both the Council and the Parliament and also reflects the priorities of the new Commission: growth, jobs and investment. The Budget Commissioner also called for the amending budgets for 2014 to be adopted in order to tackle the problem of unpaid bills. This “is not money for Brussels, but for our regions, our businesses and our people”, the Commissioner stressed.
The 2015 budget to be amended on the basis of the €315 billion recovery plan. Once the investment plan is approved, the draft budget can be amended to take account of this package, the Commissioner explained. The effects will not make themselves felt until the second half of 2015, she added.
How does the new draft budget differ from the last one? The Commissioner replied that the commitment appropriations have been reduced, as have the payment appropriations (€800 million less for payments) “and we have been able to find funding for farmers” hit by the Russian embargo, a solution which does not involve having to use the emergency reserve earmarked for agricultural crises. Not eating into the 2015 crisis reserve was a red line for many EU countries.
As regards the 2014 amending budgets, the Commissioner pointed out that the Council has accepted the principle of using the contingency margin, whilst the discussions focus on the level to which this flexibility should be mobilised. (LC)