An Agreement on the European Budget

The European Council and the European Parliament have reached an agreement on the 2014 EU budget

Roxana Vasile, 12.11.2013, 13:43

It’s become customary for major decisions to be made in Brussels at midnight or early in the morning, after hours of fierce negotiations. The same happened on Monday night, when, after 16 hours of talks, the European Council and the European Parliament reached an agreement on the EU budget for 2014. Therefore, the Member Countries agreed that the budget should grow by 500 million Euros. The Member States were only willing to contribute 135 billon Euros, though the European Parliament had asked for 136.4 billion Euros. After negotiations, though, the Member States agreed to 135.5 billion Euros.

Even so, next year’s budget will be 10% smaller than the 2013 budget, reflecting quite accurately the financial burden that has been impoverishing the European Union ever since the break of the economic crisis in 2008. The dispute between the member countries and Parliament over the EU budget, which has turned into a habit, was eventually solved, despite the opposition displayed by Great Britain, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands, known as supporters of a rigorous financial discipline within the EU and fierce opponents of any increase in the Members’ contribution to the community budget.

The money that the parties agreed upon will be used for strengthening priority fields, such as economic growth, innovation, job creation, effective immigration management, border protection and humanitarian aid. Special attention will be paid to the situation created by the exodus of Syrian citizens, driven away by the conflicts in their country. Also, money will go to transport infrastructure and incentives for small and medium-sized companies.

The proceedings, however, for the approval of the EU budget, are far from complete. On November 19th and 20th ministers and MEPs will have to cast their votes. Once the budget approved, the multi-annual EU budget will be approved for the 2014-2020 timeframe.

In another development, also on Monday night, a decision was made regarding the adjustment of this year’s budget, with the aim of granting 400 million Euros worth of aid to Romania, Germany, Austria and the Check Republic, countries affected by flooding and drought. According to the EU Commissioner for financial programming and budget, the Polish Janus Lewandowski, the first installment, worth 250 million Euros, will mostly benefit Germany this year. The second installment will be disbursed next year.