Tag: EU budget 2014-2020

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.

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.

INTERVIEW / Kristalina Georgieva, the European Union's humanitarian aid commissioner, told EurActiv she was reasonably confident that the EU’s aid funding would not fall victim to the push by some EU member states to slash the EU budget for 2014-2020. But she also vowed to fight to preserve humanitarian aid, with “no apologies” made to detractors. 

Failed attempts to modify the EU's staff regulation will result in an automatic pay increase for European civil servants, the European Commission admitted yesterday (18 December) as a special 5.5% tax on salaries is due to expire.

EU leaders agreed at a summit last week to finalise negotiations for the EU long-term budget next spring, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė, a former EU budget commissioner, said in an exclusive interview.

A two-day EU summit ended today (14 December) without major decisions, but with a feeling of gradual return to normal after the worst of the crisis. It also provided an occasion for leaders to congratulate Cyprus on its success in what appears to have been a productive presidency.

MEPs gave final approval yesterday (12 December) to a €132.8 billion budget for 2013, paving the way for future talks on the long-term budget early next year.

Directly electing the European Commission President at the 2014 EU elections would “organise the disappointment in advance”, said European Council President Herman Van Rompuy. Directly electing his own successor would be “even more absurd”, he added in comments that are likely to irritate proponents of increased democracy in the European institutions.

Missed the action at the EU's November budget summit? Fear not, here's a video wrap-up. 

EXCLUSIVE / The differences between the initial proposal for the EU's long-term budget (2014-2020), made by European Council President Herman Van Rompuy last week, and the new version he gave to EU heads of state and government last night, reveal the impact of the bilateral “confessions” held yesterday.

Farmers from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia protested as EU leaders gathered in Brussels yesterday (22 November), calling for equal treatment of Baltic farmers in the bloc's long-term budget. At the moment, they receive a quarter of what some farmers in other member states receive.