Thursday

28th Mar 2024

EU commission proposes six percent budget cut

  • EU officials are facing a race against time to agree the 2014-2020 budget (Photo: European Council)

EU spending will be slashed by 6 percent next year, according to the 2014 budget tabled on Wednesday (26 June) by the European Commission.

The bloc's structural and cohesion funds, which go to the poorest regions in the 27 member states, are set to be the main casualty, with reductions of 13.5 percent to €47.6 billion.

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

Meanwhile, spending on the environmental side of the common agricultural policy is to be cut by 4.7 per cent.

Budget commissioner Janusz Lewandowski indicated the proposal had been tabled to meet treaty rules requiring the EU executive to table a budget by 1 July, but is open to revision.

"We will adjust our proposal later on in the light of the final outcome on the 2014-2020 Multi-annual Financial Framework [MFF]," he said.

As things stand, the EU institutions face a race against time to sign off on the long-term budget before the summer break.

Next week's plenary session in Strasbourg is the last before the summer recess.

Although talks between the parliament's lead negotiator, Alain Lamassoure, and the Irish presidency raised hopes that a deal had been struck last week, a series of MEPs later said said that the latest compromise offer was below their expectations.

In return for accepting a budget worth €960 billion, well below the €1 trillion initially proposed by the commission, MEPs have been insisting on mechanisms to allow funds to be rolled over between years and different budget headings.

They have demanded a full review of the budget in 2016 in the next legislature, hoping that EU economies will be in a position to increase spending.

They also want to set up a working group to assess the future of EU "own resources," such as an EU-levied tax.

On Wednesday, the parliament's Socialist group joined the Liberal and Green groups in stating that it would not sign off on the deal tabled last week by the Irish presidency.

The move leaves the centre-right EPP, the parliament's largest group, and the right-wing ECR as the only groups yet to declare their position.

A super majority of more than half the total number of MEPs is required to pass the MFF.

Hannes Swoboda, the Austrian leader of the Socialist group, described the latest offer as "not good enough."

"Although the Irish presidency did not always play fair with us and did not move far enough in the direction of the European Parliament's demands, we are ready for a compromise," he added.

Diplomats said EU leaders would hope to make progress on the MFF at tomorrow's EU summit in Brussels.

"There will be a lot of disorder if we can't get an MFF deal," said a UK contact.

A German source said that Berlin would do "everything it can to get a deal this week," adding that "there needs to be a deal now."

Deal on EU budget in doubt

A tentative agreement on the EU budget has been thrown into doubt less than 12 hours after it was supposedly agreed. MEPs line up to suggest the Irish EU presidency has overplayed its hand.

Negotiators strike deal on €960bn EU budget

EU negotiators are on the brink of formalising a €960bn deal on the next seven year EU budget, after a tentative deal on Wednesday. But key MEPs are already saying the deal is insufficient.

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. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  2. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  3. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  4. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  5. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  6. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult
  7. EU unveils plan to create a European cross-border degree
  8. How migrants risk becoming drug addicts along Balkan route

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?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us