About: EU budget 2014-2020
EFSI boss: The next EU budget will be different
The concept of the EFSI – to use taxpayer’s money from the EU budget in combination with financial instruments to achieve leverage with a higher economic impact – is now waterproof, Wilhelm Molterer, managing director of EFSI, told EURACTIV Slovakia in an exclusive interview.
Mimica: ‘There cannot be a sustainable foreign and security policy without a clear development contribution’
We are starting the most important year for development processes, European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development Neven Mimica told EURACTIV in an exclusive interview.![[ffsa.fr/Flickr]](https://www.euractiv.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/10/jean_arthuis_creditffsa_fr_flickr.jpeg)
EP Budgets Committee Chair: ‘EU debt goes against treaties’
As member states present their 2015 budgets to the European Commission for examination, serious questions are being raised over the alarming state of the EU budget. President of the European Parliamentary Committee on Budgets Jean Arthuis says the Union's debts will reach €30 billion by the end of 2014.
De Geus: Better spending will preserve the EU social market model
Ahead of the launch of a study on the added value of EU spending, Bertelsmann Stiftung chairman and chief executive Aart De Geus points at the savings EU member states could achieve if they pooled and distributed resources more efficiently, for example in diplomatic and defence services.
Budget negotiator: Commission forgot about the Lisbon Treaty
During the negotiations for the 2014-2020 EU budget, the European Commission appeared to have forgotten that the Lisbon Treaty entails new responsibilities that require at least a minimum of funding, says Alain Lamassoure, MEP and head of the negotiating team for the financial framework.
Grybauskait?: Lithuania aims for a ‘trustworthy’ presidency
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite says her country's first time at the helm of the EU will be "a presidency you can rely on. We will deliver what we promise to deliver,” she tells EURACTIV in an exclusive interview. Lithuania succeeds Ireland on Monday (1 July) in the six-month presidency.
Lewandowski: Agreeing the budget was ‘extreme sports’
The political agreement on the EU budget for 2014-2020 reached yesterday (27 June) was “extreme sports”, says Budget Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski, in an exclusive interview in which he explained the details that made the deal possible.
Prime minister: Lithuanians have ‘little interest’ in their country’s EU presidency
Despite a high rate of approval for the European project, Lithuanians appear to have little interest in the country’s first stint at leading the rotating presidency of the EU, starting 1 July, Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevi?ius told EURACTIV Germany in an exclusive interview.
Piebalgs: Development champions should speak up
Development aid contributes to economic success in both developing countries and in Europe, Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs tells EURACTIV in an exclusive interview.
Minister: Poland changed the EU narrative on cohesion policy
Poland changed the narrative that presented the EU's cohesion policy as something from the past that does not provide solutions to today's problems, says Piotr Serafin.
Aid advocate: EU leaders took short-term approach to budget
EU leaders applied a short-term approach to a long-term budget. But it is never too late for them to get back on the right track, Oxfam's Nicolas Mombrial told EURACTIV Germany.
Wealthy member states must cough up cash: Irish development minister
With the EU agreeing a near freeze in overseas development aid, persuading citizens to back further national contributions will be a tricky but necessary task, says Irish Trade and Development Minister Joe Costello.
Grybauskait?: EU leaders were quiet and calculating at summit
EU leaders displayed quiet resolve to agree a budget deal, with no talk of a veto, but now they must convince the European Parliament to approve the seven-year plan despite real cuts, Lithuania’s President Dalia Grybauskait? told EURACTIV at the margins of the summit.
Swoboda: No problem to return to annual budgets
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.
Verhofstadt: Parliament won’t accept budget proposal
Member states want to reduce their national deficits but EU budget cuts will create deeper problems, Guy Verhofstadt tells EURACTIV at the margins of the EU budget summit.
Eva Joly: ‘Don’t sacrifice development aid’
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”.
Italian ambassador: EU budget has to do ‘better with less’
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.
Schulz: Development aid is a success story the EU can be proud of
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.
Grybauskaite: EU leaders ‘mentally ready’ for budget deal
EU leaders agreed at a summit last week to finalise negotiations for the EU long-term budget next spring, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskait?, a former EU budget commissioner, said in an exclusive interview.
Leading MEP: A witness to amazing things at budget summits
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.
Hungarian minister: A budget for the eurozone will destroy the EU
A second budget for the eurozone would result in treating countries differently and ultimately destroy the EU, Enik? Gy?ri, Hungary's state secretary for European Affairs, told EURACTIV Germany.
Scholar: EU backslides from diversity to differentiation
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 Pu?ca?, a Romanian scholar and diplomat who was his country’s chief negotiator in the EU accession talks.
Leading MEP: Parliament will reject cuts to health sector
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.