EU Budget 2014: EPP Group saves financing for education, research and SMEs

In validating the result of the conciliation that was held on 11 November, MEPs finally adopted the 2014 budget today. The first of the 2014-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework, this budget is down to 6% compared to the previous one, with €142.6 billion in commitment appropriations and €135.5 billion in payment appropriations.

"We are aware of the constraints weighing on Member State finances, which unfortunately still supply three quarters of the European budget. We are ready to agree to these unprecedented savings for years to come", declared Dominique Riquet, Rapporteur for the EPP Group on the issue. "It is clear, however, that the irresponsibility with which the Member States have handled their public finances for years is going to be very costly for the European project. Because, let's not fool ourselves, it is not with a decreasing budget that we are going to progress significantly towards European integration."

The Parliament’s negotiating team has however been able to obtain pre-financing of €360 million for the programmes on research (Horizon 2020), education (Erasmus+) and for SMEs (COSME), which are key areas for growth, employment and competitiveness. Youth unemployment, which has reached dramatic levels, wasn't forgotten, with an envelope of more than €3 billion being allocated from which €900 million will immediately be spent. The Parliament also obtained an additional amount of €134 million for the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived. Finally, the European agencies involved in immigration and asylum, as well as in the financial supervision sector, have seen their funding rise above what was proposed by the European Commission.

"If the level of payments adopted is €500 million higher than what the Council asked for, the problem will have to be closely monitored next  year", stated Dominique Riquet. "It is then important that the Commission, the Parliament and the Council commit themselves to introducing an amending budget during the year if necessary." It is expected that payment appropriations will be approximately €20 billion next year, given the end of the implementation of programmes from the previous financial framework.

Dominique Riquet concluded: "These negotiations concerning the financial framework must make us aware of the extreme limit at which the current system has arrived. Europe, which creates policies for more than 500 million inhabitants, doesn't have the means to meet its own ambitions. To solve this, the first thing to do is reform the own resources system without any further charges to the European taxpayer, so that European public funding no longer depends on bargaining between governments."