Europese Raad predikt soberheid voor groei (en)

COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

Brussels, 11 July 2012 PRESSE 334

2013 EU budget: Council reconciles growth and austerity

The Permanent Representatives Committee¹ endorsed today the draft Council's position on the 2013 EU draft budget, limiting the increase in payments to 2.79% compared to 2012 ( + ADD 1 + ADD 2 + + ADD 1 + ADD 2 + ADD 3). It herewith confirmed the agreement reached in the Council's budget committee on the basis of a compromise text of the Cyprus presidency and paved the way for the formal adoption of the Council's position scheduled on 24 July

The draft Council's position reconciles the necessity to avoid undue burden on national public finances in times of fiscal consolidation with the need for growth enhancing measures. It also takes due account of the fact that 2013 is the last year of the multiannual financial framework (MFF)

The most important payments' increase (+6.71%) is dedicated to heading 1 (sustainable growth), which is in line with the Europe 2020 strategy for jobs and growth. Particular emphasis is given to sub-heading lb (cohesion) where the payments would increase by 8.07%, also in order to avoid similar shortfalls as last year. Sub-heading 3a (freedom, security and justice) which includes the cooperation in the fields of external borders and migration constitutes another priority of the Council (+5%). The payments advocated by the Council under the other headings and sub-headings either increase clearly below the inflation forecast^{2 3} or decrease compared to their 2012 level⁴

The Permanent Representatives Committee is composed of the ambassadors of the 27 EU member states. Its role is to prepare decisions of the Council

http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/publications/european_economy/2012/pdf/ee-2012-l_en.pdf. page 10

This is true for sub-heading la (competitiveness) with +1.5%, heading 2 (natural resources) with +0.77%, and heading 5 (administration) with + 1.47%

This concerns sub-heading 3b (citizenship) with -4.5% and heading 4 (EU as a global player) with -9.75%

In absolute figures, the draft Council's position on the draft budget for 2013 amounts to

• • 

  EUR 132.70 billion in payments, corresponding to 0.99% of the EU's Gross National Income (GNI), and

• • 

  EUR 149.78 billion in commitments, leaving a margin of EUR 3.58 billion under the overall ceiling of the current MFF

Compared to 2012, the draft Council's position provides for an increase of EUR 3.61 billion in payments and EUR 1.88 billion in commitments

Compared to the amounts proposed by the Commission, the Council wants to decrease the payments by a total of EUR 5.23 billion and the commitments by EUR 1.15 billion

The reductions have been agreed upon on the basis of past and current budget implementation and realistic absorption capacities

Once it has been formally adopted, the Council's position will serve as a mandate to the Cyprus presidency to negotiate next year's EU budget with the European Parliament, which is expected to adopt its amendments to the Council's position at the end of October. If the Council's and the Parliament's positions diverge, a three-week conciliation period will start on 24 October (until 13 November included) {see flow-chart in the annex).

A summary of the draft Council's position is set out in the table below:

(in EUR)

DB = draft budget (of the Commission)

AB = amending budget

Budget procedure Lisbon Treaty (Art. 314)

Commission presents Council (CMS) and European Parliament (EP) draft budget until 1 September of year n-1

CMS adopts its position by qualified majority (q.m.) on the draft budget and forwards it to the EP until 10ctober n-1

EP adopts amendments by a majority of its members

EP approves the position of the CNS within 42 days or does not take a decision

Presidents of the CNS and of the EP convene a Conciliation Committee (CC], composed of 27 members of the CNS and 27 oftheEP

Budget finally adopted

CNS approves by q. m. all the amendments of the EP within 10 days

CC tries to reach agreement on a joint text within 21 days, by q. m. of the CNS and a majority of the representatives of the EP

If the CC agrees on a joint text the CNS and the EP have each a period of 14 days to approve it

If the CC does not reach agreement on a joint text, the Commission shalll submit a new draft budget

EPand CNS approve the joint text or fail to take a decision, or one institution approves the text while the other does not take a decision

Budget finally adopted

EP (by a majority of its members) and CNS reject the text, or one institution rejects it while the other does not take a decision

EP (by a majority of its members) rejects the text, while the CNS approves it

Commission shall submit a new draft budget

EP approves the text, while the CNS rejects it

EPmay (by a majority of its members and three-fifths of the votes cast) decide to confirm all or some of its amendments. Where an EP amendment is not confirmed, the position agreed in the CC is retained

CC = Conciliation Committee

CNS = fouf?df

EP = European Parliament

q.m. = qualified majority