Brussels, 12/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - Mario Monti, the chair of the high-level group on the own resources of the EU, said in Brussels on Friday 12 February that the mandate of this group should be extended to include expenditure, notably due to new challenges such as the migration crisis.
At a press release, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister who chairs the Council of Ministers of the Economy and Finance of the EU, confirmed that the feeling had also been expressed within the Council that this high-level group should, if necessary, also look at the expenditures side, not just the own resources side.
Monti, the former Italian Prime Minister, pointed out that the group was to adopt its report towards the end of 2016 and that an inter-institutional conference would be held in mid-June on this dossier of the EU's own resources. The high-level group will present “a number of proposals with differing degrees of ambition”. He referred to the new challenges within the EU which have put the Union to the test in a number of fields, including the budget. Monti listed the following challenges: Greece, the migration crisis and security. There are new challenges, therefore the EU should assess the possibilities which exist within its own resources to face these challenges. Monti stressed that it is harder to reach an agreement on a subject (such as own resources) if the obligation of unanimity exists within that area, unless it can be put in a 'package'. Hence the need to look at the expenditure of the EU.
Only the finance ministers of Italy, Germany, Finland and the UK took the floor, most notably to support the idea of extending the mandate of the high-level group to expenditure. Finland also said that it supported ambitious proposals, but that attention would need to be paid to the timing of their presentation, in reference to the forthcoming referendum in the United Kingdom on the country's membership of the EU. The UK also stressed the importance of timing. The European Commission pointed out that the world had changed and that rather than just income, expenditure also had to be scrutinised. In order to reform the budget, a package of reforms will need to be tabled, the Commission concluded. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)