Council and MEPs far apart on 2012 budget

Strong criticism of member states’ spending plan.

MEPs have criticised a proposal by the Council of Ministers to limit spending in the EU’s 2012 budget.

Francesca Balzani, a centre-left Italian MEP who is responsible for drafting the European Parliament’s position, said during a debate on the subject yesterday (14 September) that the position of MEPs was “very far apart and very different” from the thinking of member states.

She argued that the Council was being short-sighted with its call for restrained spending to reflect national austerity measures and the debt crisis. “We still have to carry on working on investment and recovery and future wealth and prosperity for all,” she said.

Jacek Dominik, under-secretary of state in Poland’s finance ministry, who is responsible for negotiating the EU budget on behalf of Poland, which holds the rotating presidency of the Council of Ministers, urged MEPs to take account of the difficult financial situation confronting member states. “I believe the 2012 budget as proposed by the Council will allow the EU to meet its obligations and will constitute a signal to taxpayers that we are acting responsibly,” Dominik said.

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Major differences

Member states agreed in July on a spending increase of 2.02% compared to this year’s EU budget – much less than the 4.9% proposed by the European Commission, which MEPs have provisionally backed.

The Council’s proposal represents a budget of €129 billion in payments, compared to the Commission’s €132.7bn proposal.

The Council plan includes cuts to all spending lines, including projects that promote jobs, regional aid and external relations. It also envisages cutting EU administrative costs.

Janusz Lewandowski, the European commissioner for financial programming and budget, said he could not endorse the Council’s proposal to cut payments by a total of €3.7bn. He said it could violate legal obligations on payments in regional and structural aid that member states agreed to pay out.

According to Dominik, the Council proposal will enable the EU to “meet funding needs of programmes already agreed”, despite the cuts. He added that member states were ready to supplement the budget if a shortage of funds arises because of the cuts.

Austerity measures

Dominik also appealed to MEPs to do their bit in trimming the Parliament’s administrative budget.

José Manuel Fernandes, a Portuguese centre-right MEP, told Dominik that the Parliament had already made sacrifices to reflect national austerity. The Parliament has worked “very hard” to keep a cap on costs, he said, despite having to budget for the accession of Croatia and 18 extra MEPs who are expected to join the Parliament next year.

He argued that MEPs need the funding “to carry out our programmes; that is what our citizens expect from us”.

The Parliament’s budgets committee is expected to agree its position on 4-6 October, with a full Parliament vote on 26 October.

Negotiations on a final budget deal between the Council and MEPs are planned for the first two weeks of November.