Tag: EU budget 2014-2020

The European Parliament will vote by secret ballot on the EU's 2014-2020 budget, its centre-left President Martin Schulz and Joseph Daul, the leader of the centre-right European People’s Party, said yesterday (7 February).

EU leaders who meet today (7 February) to work on the 2014-2020 budget are expected to cut spending for development aid up to 13%, says MEP Eva Joly, chairwoman of the European Parliament’s Committee on Development. She calls on EU leaders not to sacrifice development aid, which she calls “peace insurance for Europe”. 

As EU leaders meet tomorrow (7 February) for a two-day summit to ink out a deal on the Union's long-term budget for 2014-2020, diplomats said it was “now or never” for them to agree. Indeed, the political calendar of countries like Germany would make it much more difficult to reach a compromise before the 2014 European elections. 

British Prime Minister David Cameron hopes to enlist the support of Germany and other rich north European countries in his fight to freeze EU spending at budget talks starting tomorrow and is prepared to block a deal unless more savings are found.

As EU leaders prepare for long negotiations on the EU budget this week, Italian Ambassador Nelli Feroci says Italy is working towards a "balanced and equitable" deal, where funds earmarked for agriculture and regional cohesion - traditionally the big components of the budget - are geared to maximise growth and jobs, and achieve a sustainable European economic recovery.

Speaking in Brussels a week before EU leaders are set to find an agreement on the 2014-2020 EU budget, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti warned against a political fight which would undermine the need for more growth and jobs, at a time when fiscal consolidation and austerity measures have taken a severe toll on economic recovery.

The next long-term budget for the EU must recognise cities’ potential for playing a much greater role in the economic recovery and therefore the urgent priority for investment in urban Europe, writes Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz.

A failed attempt to modify EU staff rules, reduce headcount and raise the retirement age, means European civil servants in Brussels earned higher salaries this month, the European Commission told EurActiv today (23 January). Ironically, this is due to Britain's rejection of the Commission's proposed reform.

Androulla Vassiliou, the European commissioner responsible for education and culture, has urged EU leaders not to cut the budget for culture. EurActiv Slovakia reports.

Paris eyes an extension of €1 billion for 10 French regions that it says are collateral victims of cuts to the EU budget for 2014-2020. EurActiv France reports.

The EU budget heading ‘Global Europe’, which allows the EU to be a player on the global stage, may suffer more than other spending areas, because development aid and humanitarian action don't have the advocates among member states like agriculture and regional aid do, European Parliament President Martin Schulz tells EurActiv.

The future of Europe’s agriculture policy shouldn’t be held hostage by the EU’s budget impasse, Ireland’s agricultural minister said in calling for negotiations to move forward even if final figures on spending are unknown until spring.

European leaders have moved closer to an agreement on the EU's long-term budget and should clinch a deal in the spring, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė said in an exclusive interview with EurActiv.

The European Commission announced yesterday (13 December) that international donors, among which the largest is the EU, have decided to suspend the funding of one specific decommissioning project in the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant in Lithuania.

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.

Yesterday leaders sat down in Brussels for a series of 'bilaterals' to hack out their positions on the EU budget with Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, and European Commission President José Manuel Barroso. Here are their red lines.

On the eve of an EU summit that could see further political isolation for the United Kingdom, officials made clear that Prime Minister David Cameron would not hesitate to use his veto to freeze the EU's 2014-2020 budget and to preserve the UK rebate.

European leaders must look at the bigger picture during the EU budget summit. They have to unleash the green potential within EU spending that has already taken root in many countries, writes former president of the European Commission Jacques Delors.

A European-level corporate tax could have bigger and more effective anti-cyclical effects than the financial transaction tax backed by some EU leaders, Ian Begg argues.

Even if there is no agreement reached at the 22-23 November EU summit, the discussion is necessary, says MEP Ivailo Kalfin, one of the two European Parliament rapporteurs on the 2014-2020 EU budget. As a foreign minister during the negotiation of the previous budget, he said he saw major misunderstandings at the summit table.