Following the collapse of talks on the draft 2013 EU budget (this was prior to last week's talks on the long-term EU budget), the European Commission was sent back to the drawing board and asked to come up with a new proposal. The new draft has been published today and...there is a rather strong sense of déjà vu - it is essentially the same proposal EU member states and MEPs could not agree on two weeks ago.
This is the table comparing the two drafts (click to enlarge):
PA = Payment Appropriations (the maximum amount of money which is actually going to be disbursed)
So, basically, the total reduction in payments proposed by the European Commission is less than €127 million. The justification is the usual one: EU member states have committed to a series of projects which are now about to be finalised - and there are outstanding bills to be paid. But, if you are a government under an EU-mandated austerity programme - or a a household - you are forced to prioritise and find savings when there is not enough money in the pot.
Indeed.
ReplyDeleteI propose that the Commisson does not reimburse [=send funds to] the richer Member States, e.g. Germany, UK or Austria. They can afford to wait, surely?
leave eu--it will never change
ReplyDelete"there are outstanding bills to be paid". So that means they have promised money they dont yet have. Kind of presumes that EU leaders would just rollover with the increases.
ReplyDeleteArrogance!
ReplyDeleteI propose that the Commisson does not reimburse [=send funds to] the richer Member States
ReplyDeleteIf the "richer member states" were in their right minds they wouldn't send the money to the EU in the first place.
The joke is surely starting to wear a bit thin...
Firstly Can I ask that posters here do not come up as "anonymous" for we can't distinguish between you. Try a Greek lette eg "Alpha", "Beta" or planets"Mars", "Jupiter" ANYTHING but "anonymous". How many SEPARATE "anonymous" above me ? 3? or 2? or 1?
ReplyDeleteBetter Still, OE Management, abolish the category
On this subject I can only pray that Cameron will veto it in outrage and he'll get some backing too!
Anonymous1
ReplyDelete@ Macky Dee
If by 'they' you mean Commission - no.
The Member States each 7 years decide how much will be spent in each country in which area. Those are exactly the budget negotiations we read about now for the next 7 years.
It is the governments that make the decision and on that basis then the countries implement projects and then apply to Brussels for reimbursement.
In order to reimburse them the Commission needs to have the money from the Member States. Since some of them decided not to keep their obligations (not for the first time either) and pay up as promised, they also should be the first ones to be told that there is no money to pay them in case of shortage.