Cypriot member of the European Parliament Michalis Hadjipantela on Tuesday presented the parliament’s budget committee (Budg)’s plans for the European Union’s general budget for next year, which reverses all the cuts which had been made to it by the Council of the EU when it agreed its own position in July.
The budget foresees that the EU will make €194 billion worth of commitments and €203.3bn worth of actual payments over the course of the year, with the committee’s position therefore including more spending not only than the Council’s , but also than the European Commission’s position.
This is because the committee had voted to approve €1.17bn of extra spending next year compared to the commission’s position, including €260.5 million for the Connecting Europe facility, the EU’s funding instrument for infrastructure investment, and the instrument through which the EU offered grants for the Great Sea Interconnector.
Other increases include an extra €85m for the European agriculture guarantee fund, through which the EU pays farmers directly, and a €20m increase for support for young farmers.
Additionally, increases in funding amounting to €140m have been granted for the EU’s neighbourhood policy, through which the EU offers funding and partnerships for countries in eastern Europe and north Africa.
Hadjipantela, who belongs to Disy, said of his plans that “at a time when the European Union faces growing security challenges, we must ensure that our institutions possess he necessary means to carry out their mission effectively and independently”.
‘European taxpayers expect us to manage public funds responsibly’
“Let me be clear: budgetary discipline is non-negotiable. European taxpayers expect us to manage public funds responsibly and to remain efficient, while avoiding unnecessary expenditure,” he said.
On this front, he said that “all institutions must identify opportunities for savings and improve the way they operate”, and that the European Parliament itself “is called upon to continue improving how it manages and spends its budget”.
However, he stressed, “efficiency cannot simply mean making cuts without regard for the responsibilities which our institutions are required to fulfil”.
“We must avoid a situation where cuts create operational problems or, worse still, lead to higher costs in the future. The goal is to strike the right balance,” he said.
He stressed that the Budg committee’s position “has focused on specific, well-substantiated operational needs”, and stressed that “we have advocated for retaining essential resources where justified while maintaining a disciplined and proportionate approach to expenditure”.
To this end, he said that the EU’s various institutions “have already made significant efforts to improve their efficiency and save resources”, and hat “these efforts must continue, and should be accompanied by a realistic assessment of the tasks and obligations incumbent upon each institution”.
MEPs to vote on Wednesday
His co-rapporteur, Latvia’s Nils Usakovs, meanwhile, said that the committee had “put partisan politics aside and adopted a focused budgetary resolution … in order to shore up parliament’s unity for the negotiations to come”.
“Parliament proposes to restore all Council cuts – €1bn in commitments and over €500m in payments, and add €1.17bn to the draft budget. Behind every budget line we vote on tomorrow are real people and their needs,” he said.
MEPs will vote on the parliament’s position on Wednesday. If they approve the position set out by Hadjipantela and Usakovs, the “conciliation committee” of the parliament and the Council will convene on November 3 with the aim of reaching a compromise by November 16.
Should a provisional agreement be reached by that date, the joint text will then be voted on both at the Council and at the parliament for final approval.