BRUSSELS - MEPs defied calls by
national governments to rein in EU budget spending on Thursday (4
October), instead restoring most of the €138 billion settlement proposed
by the European Commission for the 2013 budget.
The European Commission’s budget proposal had called for a €9 billion
increase on the 2012 budget, equivalent to an additional 6.8 percent.
Goran Farm, the Swedish deputy who leads for the Socialist group on
the Budget committee, described the parliament’s position as “very
modest, with a clear focus on jobs and growth.”
Member states had agreed to a 2.8 percent increase but the EU’s seven
net-contributing countries, which include Germany, France and the UK,
insist that they will not cede more ground at a time when governments
are imposing national austerity plans. Critics of the council position
say that governments are trying to block funding to pay for projects
they have already agreed to.
Helga Truepel, the Green group’s spokesperson, said the commission’s
increase was to cover payments already agreed by governments. “Council
prefers to keep the level of payments under the EU budget artificially
low while knowing very well that the commission is currently unable to
honour its financial obligations,” she said.
For his part, Richard Ashworth, spokesman for the British
conservative dominated ECR group, accused the committee of adopting an
“Oliver Twist mentality” and backing “an inflation-busting increase that
those who pay the EU’s bills are unable and unwilling to pay.”
Under the Lisbon Treaty, parliament enjoys equal power with
governments on the adoption of the EU budget which must be no higher
than 1.23 percent of GDP.
The vote by the budget committee comes after the commission revealed
that it would table a supplementary budget to plug an estimated €10
billion hole to ensure that payments under programmes such as the
European Social Fund and Erasmus scheme could continue to be made.
While negotiations on the next seven year budget framework starting
in 2014 remains deadlocked, a number of EU funding programmes are on the
brink of insolvency.
Socialist group leader Hannes Swoboda accused governments of
“blackmailing successful programmes” with the immediate future of the
EU’s Erasmus student exchange programme affected by the budget gridlock.
Although the Commission has sought to play down the prospect of
students not receiving their grants, the European Students’ Union (ESU)
said that failure to reach a budget settlement could leave students in
the 2012-13 semester empty-handed.
ESU chair Karina Ufert urged the EU executive to “solve the current
financial shortcomings of the European Social Fund by using money from
underspent EU funds.” Over 2 million students have used the Erasmus
programme in its 25 year existence.
The Cypriot Presidency is hoping to cajole ministers into a
compromise deal over the coming weeks. They will then attempt to bridge
the gaps with the parliament and commission position.
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