Friday

29th Mar 2024

Dogfight over EU budget could end in crisis, MEP says

EU institutions have two months to reach an agreement on next year's EU budget if the bloc is to avoid a new crisis, a senior MEP has warned.

Speaking to reporters of Tuesday (12 October), centre-right MEP Alain Lamassoure added that finding a mechanism to enable Brussels to raise its own funding could no longer be ignored.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

The two issues have become increasingly linked after MEPs in the European Parliament's budgets committee last week proposed a package of amendments to the EU's draft 2011 budget, published by the commission earlier this year.

Among the new lines inserted by the euro deputies in the draft document was a demand for member states to open negotiations on new 'own resources', adding that this element is a "full part of the overall agreement on the 2011 budget."

With several member states directly opposed to the idea of a self-funding EU, the battle looks set to escalate next week when negotiators from the two sides meet.

"I am hopeful that that each institution will have the heart to reach a consensual agreement. If not we will be in crisis," said Mr Lamassoure, a former French minister for European affairs and current chair the European Parliament's budgets committee.

EU financing arguments have precipitated major European crises in the past, including the 1965 'empty chair' policy adopted by French President Charles de Gaulle in response to a commission proposal to raise its own resources to pay for the common agricultural policy.

This time round, Mr Lamassoure and other MEPs are seeking to frame the issue of own resources as way to reduce national contributions to the EU budget at a time of European austerity.

As both governments and national parliaments would have to approve any change is this direction, Mr Lamassoure says he is open to any revenue-raising ideas that could garner the support of this 'double unanimity'.

"If our citizens are furious against the banks which led us into the current crisis, and they find it acceptable to make them pay, either by a direct tax or one of profits - moi je dis bravo," he added.

Some form of financial tax is expected to be among the list of potential funding mechanisms proposed by the commission next Tuesday in its 'budget review' of the current spending period (2007-13).

The following day MEPs will discuss the issue during a plenary session in Strasbourg and vote on the budget committee's list of amendments to the draft 2011 budget. A 'conciliation' committee with representatives from parliament and member states will then have 21 days to agree on a joint text regarding the 2011 spending blueprint.

"We are not closed to the reflection on own resources but it is clear that we can't have additional income for the EU, it must replace existing sources," a French diplomat told this website. "The second issue is that we can't increase the fiscal pressure on our citizens," they added.

One thing is clear however, says Mr Lamassoure. "It must not be called a 'European tax'. Once you mix the words 'Europe' and 'tax' in the same sentence it becomes explosive."

Adding to the volatile nature of the upcoming talks are MEP demands to see the commission's €130 billion budget proposal increased in size, while member states have already indicated they want this figure for next year's EU spending to be reduced by €3.6 billion.

MEPs defend budget increase in time of austerity

MEPs have voted by a vast majority to increase next year's EU budget by 5.9 percent, a move they define as "responsible" despite government spending cuts in member states.

Opinion

EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania

Among the largest sources of financing for energy transition of central and eastern European countries, the €60bn Modernisation Fund remains far from the public eye. And perhaps that's one reason it is often used for financing fossil gas projects.

Opinion

EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania

Among the largest sources of financing for energy transition of central and eastern European countries, the €60bn Modernisation Fund remains far from the public eye. And perhaps that's one reason it is often used for financing fossil gas projects.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us