Member states urged to ‘go extra mile’ in EU long-term budget talks
Commission president José Manuel Barroso has made an impassioned plea to member states to 'go the extra mile' in the upcoming talks on the EU's long-term budget.
The post-2013 budget will be up for debate at a crunch EU summit on 22 and 23 November.
The commission, backed by parliament, has proposed a €1.025 trillion budget ceiling for the period up to 2020, equivalent to 1.03 per cent of EU gross national income (GNI).
That is a five per cent rise compared with the 2007-2013 budget.
Agreement must be reached by all member states and parliament on a new deal.
UK prime minister David Cameron has said any above-inflation increase in the budget would be inappropriate at a time when member nations are having to make tough spending decisions at home.
He has said he would be prepared to veto any unacceptable proposal at next week's summit in Brussels.
However, speaking in parliament on Tuesday, Barroso appealed to countries like the UK and Germany, which also has reservations about a budget rise, to "go the extra mile" in agreeing to the commission's budget plans.
Barroso said he wants to see the summit agree to an "ambitious but realistic" budget, adding, "Member states tell us they want to see economic growth and so do I. Well, let us see whether those governments who want growth are now ready to compromise over the budget."
"I hope they will go that extra mile to help us reach a consensus at the summit. I hope this argument will be heard by member states next week."
Barroso joined heads of state and government from 15 member states, plus Croatia, who gathered in parliament on Tuesday to stress their support for a "strong EU cohesion policy".
The meeting was hosted by parliament's president Martin Schulz and co-organised by Polish prime minister Donald Tusk and his Portuguese counterpart Pedro Passos Coelho.
Later, Barroso spoke at a news conference alongside representatives of the EU's three 'social partners', BusinessEurope, the European trade union confederation (ETUC) and the European association of SMEs.
Barroso said he wanted a "modernised" cohesion policy in the future.
He said that the policy, which aims to reduce economic gaps between Europe's richest and poorest regions, was "not just for some, but the whole of Europe".
He added, "It is important that Europe and member states show real commitment to cohesion policy."
There are growing fears that, with some member states pressing for the post 2013 budget to be cut or frozen, the funds allocated for cohesion policy could be seriously reduced.
Further support for future cohesion policy came from Pedro Passos Coelho who, speaking at the same event, said, "Cohesion policy is without doubt one of the most important tools we have to tackle economic and social disparities in Europe. It must not be weakened.
"The budget discussions next week will be very complex, but this is not the time to open up new divisions in Europe. Yes, we need to better spend the EU budget but I am sorry to see though that the budget debate to far has turned to a debate about cutbacks."
Meanwhile, the Brussels-based NGO Social Platform has called for a "strong" cohesion budget "that will enable concrete actions in response to the economic crisis".
Social Platform president Conny Reuter added, 'However, we are extremely concerned about the intended reduction of the total amount for the EU multiannual financial framework and the impact this will have on cohesion policy in particular.
"Unemployment in the EU is at its highest in 15 years, with 25 million out of work. 116 million Europeans are at risk of poverty or social exclusion and in only one year the number of people living at risk of poverty or social exclusion has risen by one million."
Reuter added, "Yet at the same time, member states are considering reducing the EU budget for 2014-2020, which will only exacerbate the situation.
"Such reductions will have severe consequences for reaching the objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy targets on employment, education and poverty and show how disconnected EU leaders are from people on the street".
