Tuesday

21st Mar 2023

Hollande ready to compromise on EU budget

  • Hollande - EU budget cuts 'must not weaken economy' (Photo: Francois Hollande)

Francois Hollande is ready to accept a cut in the EU budget provided that it does not weaken the European economy and protects the poorest countries, the French President told MEPs.

Speaking in Strasbourg on Tuesday (5 February), Hollande said his "position is to make savings but not weaken our economy."

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

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

... or subscribe as a group

He added that "the budget must continue the growth pact adopted in June and must support the most vulnerable Europeans", calling for Europe's poorest countries to have increased structural funds and financial support allocated to them.

Meanwhile, he called for better integration of national budget policies and common initiatives to support job creation and growth. "Otherwise we will be condemning Europe to endless austerity and I won't stand that," he said.

EU leaders will convene in Brussels on Thursday (7 February) for talks aimed at reaching a deal on the next seven year EU multi-annual financial framework (MFF) starting in 2014. Talks at a specially convened budget summit in November broke up without agreement following an offer of €973.5 billion in commitments from European Council President Herman van Rompuy.

In a bid to pacify rival groups among member states demanding cuts overall but seeking to maintain spending on agricultural subsidies and EU cohesion funds, President van Rompuy targeted the Commission's 'Connecting Europe" infrastructure projects as well as the EU's development aid budget for the deepest spending reductions.

The European Commission had initially proposed a package worth just over €1 trillion, but a number of countries want the EU to tighten its belt at a time when most European governments are pushing through national budget cuts.

Although Hollande did not spell out a precise figure, EU officials have suggested that the French President would accept a budget settlement worth around €960 billion. Van Rompuy has indicated that he will not circulate any new calculations before talks begin on Thursday.

Speaking in response to Hollande, Commission President Jose Barroso said that the budget would be a vital tool in reducing chronic levels of unemployment across the bloc and increasing the EU's competitiveness. "In order to guarantee a sustainable growth we need investment and the instrument for that is the EU's budget," he said.

However, Joseph Daul, the French leader of the centre-right EPP group, raised the prospect of MEPs vetoing a cuts package agreed by governments.

"These proposals are going in the wrong direction, attacking one of our best tools to generate growth - the European budget - of which 94% goes back to the member states. The proposal we have today is a political capitulation and we are going to reject it," he said.

For his part, Alain Lamassoure, the centre-right chairman of the Budgets committee who has led Parliament's negotiating team in talks on the annual budget and the MFF, sounded a note of frustration among deputies that "no one is speaking up for Europe at the Council table except President van Rompuy."

He added that the current method used to calculate the 27-country bloc's budget settlements was "the most unfair and unjust there is" - claiming that the poorest EU countries were subsidising rebates for some of the richest member states.

Last week, Parliament President Martin Schultz warned that the assembly would reject any deal that strayed too far from the commission's original proposal.

Agenda

EU budget talks to dominate this WEEK

EU leaders gather in Brussels at the end of the week for a second attempt to agree the bloc's budget framework for 2014-2020.

EU leaders gather for budget horse-trading

EU leaders are gathering in Brussels for more horse-trading on the Union's budget, with any agreement having to satisfy penny-counting member states without alienating MEPs.

Latest News

  1. EU fears Tunisia turmoil will spark migrant boat departures
  2. 'Symbolic' Putin indictment gets some EU backing
  3. 'Final warning' to act on climate change, warns IPCC
  4. 'No one is unemployable': the French social experiment
  5. Why can't we stop marches glorifying Nazism on EU streets?
  6. Op-ed debate: Should NGOs be subject to stricter transparency regulation?
  7. 'Forever chemicals' industry hit by perfect storm
  8. EU summit zooms in on global roles This WEEK

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: The Nordics are ready to push for gender equality
  5. Promote UkraineInvitation to the National Demonstration in solidarity with Ukraine on 25.02.2023
  6. Azerbaijan Embassy9th Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting and 1st Green Energy Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us