Hongaars voorzitterschap wil Europees Parlement betrekken bij nieuwe meerjarenbegroting (en)

The Hungarian Presidency i intends to reach an agreement with the European Parliament’s involvement, in the preparations for the multi-annual financial framework i (MFF). The purpose of this is so that the next presidency trio i can focus on the content, instead of the procedure, stated Minister of State for EU Affairs, Eniko Gyori i, at the European Economic and Social Committee’s i public hearing held in Brussels, on 21 March 2011.

The Treaty of Lisbon i granted new powers to the European Parliament (EP), in the field of budgetary planning as well. Therefore, the next multi-annual financial frameworkwill not be defined in an inter-institutional agreement, as it has been the case so far, but in a regulation. Basically, the Council will have to involve the EP from the start, in the development of the law, in order to ensure the smooth adoption of the regulation.This was explained by Minister of State, Eniko Gyori, at “The EU Budget Review and proposals for the next multi-annual financial framework (MFF)”, a public hearing held in Brussels, by the European Economic and Social Committee, the EU’s consultative body.

Next trio to focus on contents

Ms Gyori stressed that the Hungarian Presidency intends to come up with a proposal by late June, to allow for the EP’s existing involvement in the planning of the financial framework, so that the next trio presidency i - Poland, Denmark, and Cyprus - will not have to be concerned with procedural issues. Instead, they can focus on the contents of the MFF. The Minister of State indicated that the Hungarian Presidency considers it a priority to develop common procedural proposals, in agreement with the next presidencies, to pave the way for the negotiations with the EP.

The next MFF has to reflect our common European objectives, for example the Europe 2020 Strategy i, but not exclusively this only. At the same time, the European budget must ensure the adequate financing of the traditional policies, such as CAP or cohesion, stressed Ms Gyori.The aim of the Presidency is to conduct these debates in the Council without prejudice to the financial aspects, as well as the outcome of the subsequent MFF negotiations.

In this spirit, on 21 February the Council adopted conclusionson cohesion policy, whereby cohesion policy is an important tool for implementing the Europe 2020 Strategy. However, specific national, regional, and local needs, including the different starting points of Member States, should be taken into account, during the process of alignment. On 28 February, energy ministers adopted Council conclusions on the theoretical importance of the energy strategy until 2020, stating the energy infrastructure priorities for 2020 and beyond.

Eniko Gyori also considered it a major accomplishment that at the meeting of the Agriculture Council, on 17 March, a strong majority of Member States agreed that CAP should remain a strong common policy. As for climate policy, Ms Gyori indicated that the Presidency is striving for the Council’s meeting in June, to adopt the Decarbonisation Roadmap presented by the Commission.

Deciding on budget funding and expenditures

Eniko Gyori said that the EU faces a double challenge: on the one hand, the Lisbon Treaty and the Europe 2020 Strategy increased the tasks of the EU and we cannot expect to deal with them successfully, if we do not ensure an acceptable level offinancing. On the other hand, Member States must pursue budgetary austerity, so they will be reluctant to spend more at European level.

The Minister of State mentioned that by sending a letter to Mr Barroso, in December 2010, five Prime Ministers made it clear that they were in favour of freezing the ceiling of the MFF. “We consider that the decisions on the financing of the budget, and the expenditures, must be taken at the same time. It is pointless speaking about the size of the budget, without knowing the content of it. We believe that the right way of constructing a budget, is to find out how much money our objectives need; and try to ensure the resources they demand.”