On Wednesday 19 October, the Slovak Presidency of the Council called upon the European Parliament (EP) to take account of the final figures from 2016 before adopting its amendments, which will skyrocket the draft EU budget for 2017.
The EP is getting ready to amend, on 26 October, the position of the Council on the draft 2017 budget and the Slovak Presidency's message is crystal clear: "we have to face reality. The 2016 EU budget is way in excess of actual needs. We must learn from this and align the 2017 EU budget as closely as possible to the most realistic forecasts", said Ivan Lesay, the Slovak secretary of state for finance, following a trialogue meeting on Wednesday with representatives of the Parliament and the Commission.
In draft amending budget (no. 4) presented on 30 September, the Commission proposed reducing by €7.27 billion the payment appropriations in the 2016 EU budget to take account of actual needs (see EUROPE 11638). This situation can be ascribed to the fact that certain programmes of the 2014-2020 period are not yet fully up and running, particularly in the field of economic, social and territorial cohesion (the implementation of the programmes is struggling to reach cruising speed, even in 2017). This is why, in the 2017 draft, the Commission put the payment needs for these actions at a level 23% lower than set out in the 2016 budget. Even taking account of the new needs, the payments proposed by the Commission for 2017 are still more than 10% lower than the 2016 amounts in the field of cohesion, a statement explains.
As regards the 2017 budget, the Slovak Presidency takes issue with the MEPs' amendments, as these seek to increase payments and commitments, with the effect of exceeding the ceilings in most of the headings of the multiannual financial framework (MFF) of the EU. "This neither reflects current needs nor respects the MFF agreement", the Slovak Presidency stresses.
It has called on the EP to focus the available resources on the EU's two major current priorities (managing the refugee crisis and strengthening growth and jobs). The Presidency also calls upon the other institutions of the EU to use European taxpayers' money as responsibly as possible, which will involve respecting the commitment to cut staffing levels by 5% between now and 2017.
The Slovak Presidency also pointed out that the negotiations on the 2017 budget and discussions on the mid-term vision of the MFF are two completely different exercises that must be dealt with separately.
A classic trialogue. Wednesday's trialogue confirmed the gulf between the EP and the Council. The EP once again asked to treat the 2017 budget, the amending budgets for 2016 and the mid-term revision of the MFF as a single 'package' (see EUROPE 11649).
At this trialogue meeting, the European Commission particularly explained that it was focusing the money on the priorities (migration, growth and employment) and that it was proposing that the flexibility instruments be used in a reasonable fashion. The Commission said that there was consensus between the institutions on the priorities and the use of flexibility, but that there were also differences of opinion, particularly on the level of payments. It has sent out a warning to the EP as to the importance of complying with the limits of the MFF.
Lastly, the EP would like to make use of the draft amending budget 4/2016 to ask to place the special instruments (such as the EU Solidarity Fund, and the Globalisation Adjustment Fund) above the ceilings of the MFF.
The EP is to adopt the amendments on 26 October and the conciliation period (to run for three weeks) will begin on 28 October. An Ecofin Council (budget session) will meet on 16 November, shortly before the end of the conciliation period. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)