"The question remains open whether there should be a permanent or non-permanent rescue mechanism. The implications for the budget are huge," Lewandowski told a small group of journalists in Brussels.
"The budget is about delivering what has been promised. For me this is very important. We should be realistic about using the budget as a guarantee, as a collateral on such a big scale," warned the Polish commissioner.
The "big scale" guarantees currently amount to €110 billion, which is the maximum that the European Union can collect on the markets to support a country with serious budgetary difficulties at favourable rates.
The money is obtained by issuing bonds which are guaranteed by the EU budget.
As a consequence, raising the ceiling of bond emissions increases the exposure of the EU budget. "In case of default we should be very watchful of what the maturity and repayment requirements are," Lewandowski warned.
Of the €110 billion that can be used as a guarantee, €50 billion is earmarked to help non- eurozone countries by means of a specific facility, whose ceiling was recently doubled from a previous €25 billion cap to help Eastern member states in deep financial crisis.
The other €60 billion is devoted to a special stability mechanism set up in May to rescue Greece, a member of the euro zone.
This facility will expire in 2013 and some member states are asking for the establishment of a permanent mechanism. Its volume and application is subject to debate.
France and Germany are the most vocal supporters of a permanent facility, as they reiterated in a joint letter published on 18 October.
Other states are less enthusiastic, as illustrated by the vague wording of the final report by the Van Rompuy Task Force on economic governance, published yesterday (21 October).
"The Task Force considers that in the medium term there is a need to establish a credible crisis resolution framework for the euro area capable of addressing financial distress and avoiding contagion," said the group, which gathers the EU's 27 finance ministers.
"It will need to resolutely address the moral hazard that is implicit in any ex-ante crisis scheme. The precise features and operational means of such a crisis mechanism will require further work," reads their final report.
Commission wants end to UK rebate
The Polish commissioner also wants to use the EU's budget review, launched earlier this week, to restart talks on special rebates granted to a small number of member states, including the UK, Sweden and the Netherlands.
"We should see the European club as a sort of fitness club, gym club, or senior club. You pay the fee to enter but you are not immediately getting your money back because you enjoy other benefits," Lewandowski said.
The UK is the biggest beneficiary of this system, negotiated in 1984 by Margaret Thatcher, who argued that Britain saw little return from its contribution to the Common Agricultural Policy.
But Lewandowski says the situation has changed in the past 30 years. "The historical reasons were different in 1984, when the level of agricultural spending was more than 60%," Lewandowski pointed out.
London has always argued that agriculture expenditure favours Mediterranean countries which have more developed farming sectors. Today, agriculture spending accounts for around 40% of the total EU budget.
The UK rebate in any given year is equivalent to 66% of the UK's net contribution in the previous year. But this privilege becomes less justifiable when it is taken into account that "the proportion of the UK contribution to the financing of the EU budget remains stable at around 10%," the Commission argues.
Meanwhile, "at the same time EU payments to the UK are expected to increase in 2011," according to a note issued by the EU executive.
The Netherlands and Sweden also enjoy a rebate, while Germany and Austria can rely upon certain discounts on the amount of resources they have to transfer to Brussels.
