Tag: EU budget 2014-2020

Pressed by the European Parliament, finance ministers will meet on Tuesday (14 May) to throw an extra €11.2 billion into this year’s EU budget as part of a wider deal on finances for 2014 to 2020.

The European Commission will propose early payments to Cyprus from the EU budget for 2014-2020 and some other measures to help address its soaring bailout needs, says a letter from Commission President José Manuel Barroso to the country’s President Nicos Anastasiades. 

Development aid contributes to economic success in both developing countries and in Europe, Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs tells EurActiv in an exclusive interview.

The European Parliament Development committee regretted the cuts to the EU's 2014-2020 budget, estimating them at  €10 billion, but admitted that much bigger cuts had been anticipated.

The European Parliament will vote tomorrow (13 March) over a resolution on the EU budget for 2014-2020. But as the vote approaches, the common position spelled out by five political groups last week appears to have been undermined by national views opposing the proposed budget “rejection.”

The first debate held yesterday (18 February) in the European Parliament since EU leaders agreed a budget for 2014-2020 showed widespread opposition to the deal from major political groups. Only the European Conservatives and Reformists group hailed the deal, which needs approval of the Parliament.

National leaders were quick to portray last week's budget summit agreement as a victory for their country. But one week after the dust has settled, the picture looks more nuanced. The EurActiv network brings you an overview from Britain, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Spain.

EurActiv has compared the figures in the EU budget deal, struck among EU heads of states on 8 February, with the European Commission's original proposal. The difference – €6.3 billion according to our calculations – represents the gap with the EU's pledge to spend 0.7% of its Gross National Income (GNI) on overseas assistance.

The decision by European heads of state to slash the budget for EU-wide roll out of fast broadband internet will stifle Europe’s innovation agenda, the European Commission warned, leaving telecom firms and member states to stump up the cash.

After 26 hours of negotiations, European heads of state and governments decided on a smaller EU budget for the period 2014-2020. Here are the numbers, compiled by EurActiv France.

Several European Commissioners say they regret the cuts in the 2014-2020 EU budget, agreed on Friday (8 February) after a marathon 24-hour summit. However, the Commissioners expressed hope that the European Parliament would approve the deal.

After 24 hours of talks, EU leaders have struck today (8 February) a deal on the 7-year budget clamoring success, but have set themselves on a collision course with Parliament, which prepares to fight off the decision to cut spending that reflects austerity undertaken by many EU countries.

If the EU leaders' agreement on the long-term EU budget does not respect the red lines spelled out by MEPs, namely flexibility, a mid-term review clause and more money for growth and investment, the European Parliament might decide to reject the proposal and revert to annual budgets, says Hannes Swoboda, leader of the Socialists and Democrats group.

Budget hawks appeared to gain the upper hand in the latest budget draft presented by European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, cutting back still further a version of the 2014-2020 budget presented two months ago. 

EU leaders appeared to be heading for a compromise on a headline figure of around €960 billion for the bloc's 2014-2020 budget, amid continued fighting over how much to cut the EU's finances.

After 24 hours of talks, EU leaders have struck a deal on the 7-year budget hailed success, but have set themselves on a collision course with Parliament, which prepares to fight off the decision to cut spending that reflects austerity undertaken by many EU countries.

French President François Hollande positioned himself as a promoter of growth and solidarity and tried to woo MEPs on the EU's long-term budget as he spoke to the European Parliament in Strasbourg yesterday (5 February). EurActiv France reports.

EU candidate Turkey and South Korea, nations that have watched their own fortunes surge in a generation, are ramping up aid programmes for poor nations at a time when such spending in Europe is under threat, a EurActiv analysis of aid statistics shows.

President François Hollande said yesterday (3 February) that France was keen to agree the European Union's 2014-2020 budget at a summit in Brussels later this week, but there was still much work to be done.

The recently launched Global Alliance for Resilience Initiative (AGIR) is shaping up to be a major long-term EU-led strategy for Africa's fragile Sahel region. As a Commission official put it, if Europe would prove unable to prepare the next 20-25 years, it would then have to face the destabilisation potential of the region.

A potential British exit from the European Union should not influence the ongoing negotiations on the EU budget for 2014-2020, according to Janusz Lewandowski, the EU's budget commissioner.

Development aid organisations hailed an agreement, approved by 11 EU countries today (22 January), to set up a financial transactions tax (FTT), and called on the European Commission to follow France's example by allocating 10% of the revenue “to the benefit of the poorest in the world".

Germany's agriculture minister described as "absurd" the European Commission's proposals to keep 7% of EU farmland fallow for environmental reasons and she urged it to reconsider.