Council should adopt Draft amending budget 2/2013 for the full amount avoiding that Erasmus, research and SME programmes stop in July

"The position expressed yesterday by the ECOFIN Council is unacceptable because it does not take into account the Commission's proposal that estimated the need for an extra €11.2 billion for the 2013 budget, and because it shows that they do not want to put fresh money into paying all the invoices transferred from 2012 to 2013", said Giovanni La Via MEP, European Parliament Rapporteur on the general budget 2013.

“The Council's attitude would result in a lack of money as early as July 2013, putting in danger the vital support for European enterprises and youth which are our priorities for boosting EU growth. In this case, the Council should take full responsibility for the interruption of important EU programmes.”

“We regret the outcome of yesterday’s meeting in which the Council expressed its wish to only agree to the amount of €7.3 billion out of 11.2, with a vague declaration on the remaining amount to be paid out, and did not take a formal vote, which would have allowed us to take a decision as well.”

Draft amending budget 2/2013 is needed to cover unpaid claims from 2012 that the Council committed to pay at the end of last year’s negotiations. An extra €11.2 billion is needed in order to pay all the beneficiaries, therefore avoiding endangering the proper implementation of the EU budget 2013.

“We cannot say in official meetings and press releases that we want more growth and more jobs if we then do not want to take all the necessary concrete steps to pay and honour our commitments.”

“Furthermore, we ask the European Commission to closely monitor spending and the correct execution of EU programmes, continuing to implement them as quickly as European recovery demands.”

For more information: 

Giovanni La Via MEP, tel: +32-2-284-5217

Francesco Frapiccini, EPP Group Press and Communication Service, tel.: +32-473-941652

Note to Editors

The EPP Group is by far the largest political group in the European Parliament with 269 Members and 3 Croatian Observer Members.