Brussels, 16/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - Unveiling “elements for drawing up a payment timeline” on Thursday 16 April, Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva said progress was being made to achieve a reduction in arrears (overdue bills to be paid from the EU budget) but the problematic heading was till cohesion. She added that there had to be a big enough budget for 2016 and to avoid a deterioration in the external action heading. There will be an inter-institutional meeting on the problem of late payments in May.
The MEPs on the budgets committee felt rather unsatisfied, noting the Commissioner's “optimism,” about a reduction in the arrears in 2016 to €2 billion, compared with €24 billion at the end of 2014. Gérard Deprez (ALDE, Belgium) said he didn't see plan to pay off the arrears. Eider Gardiazabal (S&D, Spain) said that 2016 would be a special year (without the problem of arrears), but the situation could well deteriorate in the following years (2017, 2018, 2019). In a comment aimed at the Council of Ministers, José Manuel Fernandes said that paying the bills shouldn't be a permanent political issue.
Jean Arthuis (ALDE, France), chair of the EP's budgets committee, said that progress had been made in the forecast of treasury flows and active treasury management. Like other MEPs, he said that the question of the yo-yo effect (arrears going up and down) should be dealt with in the mid-term review of the Multiannual Financial Framework for 2014-2020. He said the cycle had to be neutralised as it contradicted the aim of growth and jobs. Arthuis said that clear progress had been made in planning and he called for going beyond 2016 to make forecasts for 2017, 2018 and 2019, and to go from forecasts to a repayment plan.
Commissioner Georgieva said that proactive management of payment appropriations by the European Commission had made it possible to limit the damage. Improvements can be made in implementation of the Cohesion Policy. She said work should be done with the member states to obtain a more even absorption of funds to avoid the phenomenon of bottlenecks. She said that sufficient payment appropriations were needed and promised to align appropriations with needs. (Lionel Changeur)