EU Budget 2014-2020: Member States must come up with a responsible financing proposal.

The European Parliament today called on EU Member States to show responsibility in the negotiations on the European Union's post-2013 multi-annual budget. While freezing the next 2014-2020 budget framework at 2013 levels, as proposed by the Commission, would already result in insufficient funds for growth-related projects as well as initiatives put forward by the European Council itself, indiscriminate cuts of the Commission proposal, as called for by some national delegations, would jeopardise the effectiveness of EU policy altogether and therefore be firmly opposed, MEPs said in determining their position on the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).

"In recent years, EU Member States have come up with a whole list of new priorities and commitments, for example linked to the EU2020 Strategy and international development assistance, and now refuse to provide the necessary funds. This position stifles measures aimed at providing economic growth and prosperity and threatens key initiatives aimed at making the EU a reliable partner in international cooperation", the European Parliament's Chief Negotiator for the MFF, Reimer Böge MEP, said.

MEPs also called on European leaders to end the haggling over money at their summits and provide the EU with a genuine own revenue source based on value added tax: "Instead of bickering over national contributions to the EU budget, the European Council should take the first step to install a viable own-resource system", the European Parliament's Rapporteur Jean-Luc Dehaene said. "An own-resource system would enable Member States to reduce their annual GNI-based payments to the EU."

Responding to the discussion on the 'fiscal capacity for the Euro-area' launched by President Herman Van Rompuy, the Parliament stressed that the unity of the budget had to be preserved by any means to ensure democratic accountability. Consequently, any new budgetary capacity has to be developed within the framework of the current MFF, yet being additional to the latter rather than leading to its reduction.

Today's vote on the two Reports on the European Parliament's negotiating position on the next multi-annual budget, as well as the VAT own-resources, comes ahead of the November 22nd Summit scheduled to resolve the deadlock on the MFF negotiations. The presentation of a first proposal, including ranges of figures for the future budget by the Council, is foreseen for the end of this week.

"The European Parliament will get the final say on the next multi-annual budget framework. The plenary will have to approve the Council proposal by qualified majority. The Council must face up to this political reality and adopt a responsible negotiating position, that is to strike the balance between an appropriate level of resources, sufficient flexibility to respond to unforeseen circumstances, quality of spending, and progress on the issue of own-resources", Messrs Böge and Dehaene concluded.