2015 EU draft budget to help Europe's economic growth despite financial constraints
12 Jun 2014 11:47 AM
"Combining the
legacy of the past with helping Europe recover from the crisis, and this with
scarcer resources". This is how EU budget Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski
describes the EU's 2015 draft budget as adopted by the
Commission.
"The EU budget is 28
countries pooling together a small part of their resources to the greatest
benefit of more than 500 million Europeans, adds Janusz Lewandowski. It helps
avoid duplications of efforts at the national level and makes each of our
member states stronger as combined efforts bring better results than fragmented
action. The 2015 draft budget amounts to 1% of combined GNI of all Member
States and manages to take into account present and future major issues such as
the Ukrainian crisis or the need to strengthen the EU’s energy security
by refocusing its scarce resources."
The proposed increase of 2.1% in
commitments and 1.4% in payments is virtually absorbed by the estimated
inflation rate for 2015.
Commitment appropriations focus
on the new programmes (2014-2020 MFF) and almost 60% of the proposed amount is
dedicated to programmes that support Europe's research and innovation,
youth and businesses.
The lion's share of payment
appropriations goes to areas that boost Europe's economic growth and jobs
(+29.5% compared to 2014) such as research (Horizon 2020), trans-European
networks for energy, transport and ICT (Connecting Europe Facility) or the
Youth Employment Initiative.
Other areas that see an increase
in payments are the asylum, migration and integration fund (+140%) and
protecting Europeans' health and consumers (+20%).
The functioning cost of the EU
remains stable at around 4.8% of the total budget. Its increase (+1.6%) is
around the expected rate of inflation, therefore it does not increase in real
terms. The draft budget also includes the third 1% staff reduction in three
years. Finally, the Commission cut the expenditure and staffing requests of
other EU institutions to better align them with the
staff reduction target of 5% over 5 years and apply
restraint to other administrative costs.
What next?
Following today's adoption
by the Commission of the 2015 draft budget, the Council (Member States) will
adopt its position on it, followed by the European Parliament. This will be
followed by a 21-day conciliation period to find a compromise agreement between
the Council and the Parliament.
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