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2012 budget: investing in the future

Essential investment in education, social inclusion, poverty reduction and a knowledge-based society must go ahead without delay, said the European Parliament on Thursday in its first formal response to the Commission's draft budget for 2012.

Parliament was voting on the mandate for the MEPs who will represent it in the first round of budget negotiations with the Council on 11 July.

No budget cuts possible without damage to key policies

The Commission's draft budget, unveiled on 20 April, proposed €147.435 billion in commitment appropriations and €132.738 billion in payments (1.12% and 1.01% respectively of the EU’s forecast gross national income for 2012). In the fields of R&D and cohesion policy alone, the Commission points out that payments are set to increase by over 8% in 2012.

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