Strasbourg, 09/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - In its adoption (422 votes in favour, 173 against and 85 abstentions), in Strasbourg on Wednesday 8 July, of the report by José Manuel Fernandes (EPP, Portugal) on the mandate of the European Parliament ahead of the inter-institutional negotiations on the draft budget 2016, the EP overall welcomes the draft put forward by the European Commission: €153.5 billion in commitment appropriations (including €4.5 billion carried over from the 2014 budget) and €143.5 billion in payment appropriations.
These totals correspond to an increase of +2.4% in commitment appropriations and +1.6% in payment appropriations compared to the 2015 budget.
The EP stresses that these “overall moderate” increases, which respect the trajectory laid down by the MFF (multi-annual financial framework) and take account of inflation, “constitute virtually no increase at all in real terms, which reflects the importance of the efficiency of the expenditure”.
The EP welcomes the fact that, in addition to the anticipated increases under headings 3 (Security and Citizenship) and 4 (Europe in the world), the Commission has taken pains to react to topical events such as the crises in Ukraine, Syria and the Mediterranean, responding to the requirements of the Union and of the member states in terms of security and migration and expressing strong political will in the field of external action and budgetary commitment to the countries of origin and of transit.
The MEPs welcome the inclusion of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) in the draft budget for the financial year 2016 and, in particular, the fact that use has been made of the overall margin for commitments to cover some of the expenditure required to feed into the EFSI guarantee fund of €8 billion (rather than relying solely on cutting the money of the Horizon 2020 programme or the Connecting Europe Facility). However, the EP stresses that the decision on the annual funds authorised to constitute the EFSI guarantee fund will be taken by the budgetary authority alone, as part of the annual budgetary procedure (in this framework, it undertakes to reduce the cuts made to Horizon 2020 and the CEF even further, as these are still important programmes to realise the objectives of these programmes laid down barely two years ago following negotiations on their respective legal bases; it also intends to take a close look at whether these cuts should be concentrated on the years 2016-2018, as the Commission proposes, or also spread out over the years 2019-2020 in order to limit the impact on these programmes).
The EP regrets the fact that the programme to promote the competitiveness of businesses and small and medium-sized enterprises (COSME) has seen a nominal reduction of its commitment appropriations from 2015 to 2016. It reiterates its concerns at the funding of the youth employment initiative.
Payments: re-establishing confidence
The EP points out that the shortfall of payment appropriations, mainly due to the inadequacy of the payment ceilings and under-financing, reached unprecedented levels in 2014 and remains considerable in 2015. The EP once again expresses its concerns over ad hoc cuts to the payments brought in by the Council in its reading of the annual budgets, particularly regarding the programmes to promote competitiveness for growth and employment under heading 1a (competitiveness). By 31 March 2016 at the latest, it invites the Commission to prepare a report regarding the impact of late payments on beneficiaries between 2013 and 2015 and the impact on the implementation of programmes.
Lastly, the EP reaffirms its support to the ITER programme and pledges to ensure appropriate funding. However, it is concerned that as the revision of the timetable and financial programming of ITER are to be presented in November 2015, this will prevent the budgetary authority from taking account of the new data in the annual budgetary procedure for 2016. (Lionel Changeur)