Tag: EU budget 2014-2020

One week before heads of states and government are to convene a special summit in Brussels to discuss the 2014-2020 budget, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy tabled a €950-billion proposal that is €75 billion less than the Commission's initial recommendation.

British Prime Minister David Cameron met a cool response from Italy's Mario Monti yesterday (13 November) as he sought support for a drive to constrain the European Union budget.

Siim Kallas, the Commission vice president responsible for transport, said budget cuts for 2014-2020 proposed for the 22-23 November summit risked ‘cancelling’ European policies designed to link Eastern and Western parts of the continent.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has attacked "ludicrous" European Union budget plans and played down hopes its leaders can reach a spending deal later this month, stepping up the rhetoric before talks in London with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The 22-23 November EU summit to debate the 2014-2020 budget will be preceded by  “confessionals” one day earlier, with the 27 heads of state informing European Council President Herman Van Rompuy privately of their 'red lines' on spending, EurActiv can reveal.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday (1 November) issued a veiled reprimand to Britain and France for threatening to veto a deal on the European Union's long-term budget, a day after British Prime Minister David Cameron reaffirmed his promise to use Britain's veto if necessary.

There is a tendency in the EU, especially when dealing with Central and Eastern Europe, to turn the reality of the European diversity into a differentiation policy, says Vasile Puşcaş, a Romanian scholar and diplomat who was his country’s chief negotiator in the EU accession talks.

European Union governments will debate a cut of at least €50 billion this week as the starting point for negotiations on the bloc's proposed €1 trillion long-term budget, a source said.

Cohesion Policy will be the main public investment instrument for Greece in the foreseeable future, EU Commissioner for Regional Policy Johannes Hahn told Greek regional governors in Athens. EurActiv Greece contributed reporting for this article.

A 16-hour EU leadership summit ended on Friday (19 October) with the announcement of what is expected to be another marathon meeting of heads of state and government in November, when concrete figures for the 2014-2020 budget will be discussed for the first time.

Germany and France have agreed to keep the European Union farming budget at its current level, following a meeting between their agriculture ministers in Berlin on Wednesday (10 October).

The European Parliament will oppose cuts to the EU health budget for 2014-2020, MEP Antonyia Parvanova (ALDE, Bulgaria) told EurActiv in an interview. She also says the proposed budget of €50 million per year for 28 member states is too modest.

As EU finance ministers meet in Luxembourg today (9 October), Germany and France will step up a diplomatic drive to convince more EU countries, even outside the eurozone, to join them in setting up a financial transactions tax (FTT).

Leaders of the “Friends of Cohesion” group gathered in Bratislava on Friday (5 October) to discuss tactics ahead of the battle for the EU budget. Commission President José Manuel Barroso said the “Friends of Cohesion” should join the “Friends of Better Spending” in what he called “The Friends of Growth”. EurActiv Slovakia contributed to this article.

France and Germany still need the backing of a number of member states to put in place a European Union financial transaction tax (FTT), despite claims from French President François Hollande that the tax is "now effective". EurActiv.fr reports.

While Germany, Britain, Finland and Sweden have all taken up a clear positions on cutting the EU 2014-2020 budget, the point of view of the French government remains obscure, EurActiv.fr reports.

Cyprus tabled yesterday (19 September) a ‘negotiating box’ for the European Union budget for 2014-2020, to be discussed by European affairs ministers on Monday. According to the paper, ministers are requested to limit their presentations to three minutes.

Most countries appear to dislike Germany’s “better spending” proposal for the 2014-2020 EU budget, EurActiv has learned. The proposal, described by a diplomat as “blood, sweat and tears”, was tabled at a recent meeting of European affairs ministers in Nicosia.

An extraordinary summit of EU heads of state and governments in November will focus on the European Union budget for 2014-2020, it emerged following a meeting of European Affairs ministers held in Nicosia yesterday (30 August).

Germany's Baden-Württemberg state has taken over the presidency of the ‘four motors’ of Europe, a network of advanced regions in France, Germany, Italy and Spain demanding a bigger slice of EU regional funding to support excellence. EurActiv France reports.

The European Parliament's regional committee is holding a vote today (11 July) on legislation that some MEPs say will bring cohesion funds into “a new era” and jump-start negotiations with member states over the EU's next budget for 2014-2020.

Entangled in more pressing issues, EU leaders spent little time yesterday (28 June) discussing the future political architecture of the Union and its long-term budget, agreeing only on the next steps of the decision-making process in which the member states would have a bigger role to play.

A financial transactions tax “similar to a stamp duty” and temporarily excluding derivatives is the last attempt made by the Danish EU presidency to enlist Britain's support for the controversial plan. Failing this, a vanguard group of 10 member states led by France and Germany have already indicated they will move forward on their own.

Germany and six other countries have co-sponsored a call to freeze the EU's next seven-year budget for the period 2014-2020, according to a document obtained by EurActiv.de. But France remains undecided for now as the new Socialist government has yet to take a definitive stance on the issue.