MEPs lash out after conclusion of 2017 EU budget talks

Parliament's EPP group has condemned the "spirit" of the just-concluded negotiations which will see a slight rise in next year's EU budget.

MEPs have lashed out after the conclusion of the 2017 EU budget talks | Photo credit: Press Association

By Martin Banks

Martin Banks is a senior reporter at the Parliament Magazine

18 Nov 2016


The agreement's preliminary figures are €157.88bn in commitments and €134.49bn in payments.

The deal was finally agreed in the early hours of Thursday after 18 hours of drawn out talks between representatives from each of the three main EU institutions.

The figure finally thrashed out, branded by one MEP as "well short of expectations", represents a compromise as member states had pushed for cuts to the budget.

But, reacting to the announcement, José Manuel Fernandes, EPP group spokesperson on the budgets committee, criticised the "spirit" of the negotiations.

He said, "The national egoisms were clearly visible in the budget negotiations: nobody wanted to give but they all wanted to take, completely disregarding the added value and multiplying effect of the EU."

"Nevertheless, we reached a minimum agreement that enables the promotion of growth, investment, competitiveness and employment in the EU."

The EU budget for 2017 will see an increase of €200m for investments in research, infrastructure, Erasmus and support for SMEs, as well as additional funds for increasing security in Europe.

Further reaction came from Siegfried Mureşan, EPP group negotiator for the EU budget, who said, "As a result of Parliament's efforts, the youth employment initiative, which has helped more than nine million young Europeans find a job or an education offer since 2014, will continue in 2017 with a budget of €500m."

Elsewhere, GUE/NGL group MEPs on the budgets committee expressed their "deep disappointment" at the deal, which they said is "not nearly enough to tackle the many challenges facing the EU."

Irish MEP and GUE/NGL group coordinator on the committee, Liadh Ní Riada, was particularly damning of the agreement.

"The outcome of the conciliation meeting was to say the least highly disappointing. Member states had few or no answers to the challenges facing the EU like economic stagnation, the plummeting social standards, Brexit, USA election results and the humanitarian crisis.

"Support for boosting investments for the creation of employment, culture, education, health, fighting against climate change, regional development also fell well short of expectations," she said.

"The Nordic states, in particular, showed little solidarity by blocking more progressive decisions despite requests from MEPs.

"Yes, member states bowed to our demands to re-start the youth employment initiative as well as increasing the resources for programmes such as ERASMUS, COSME and Progress. But a much better outcome should have been possible - and easier to achieve. Instead, we mostly got postponements and deferrals," Ní Riada added.

The deal will see the overall budget rise by 1.7 per cent and ECR group member Bernd Koelmel criticised the European institutions' "unwillingness to save money", accusing them of having "inadequate priorities."

Koelmel said, "For a recovery of the EU, a dismantling of EU-structures would be necessary. This has unfortunately not yet been realised. Every year higher expenses are suggested by the Commission and the big parties of the Parliament, and Council and the ECR group are trying to curb them."

The ECR-group had earlier demanded a reduction of €500m which was rejected by the other parliamentary groups.

The agreement will now go for a vote at Parliament's plenary session on 1 December in Brussels.

 

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