EU budget 2014-2020 and Bulgaria
The talks regarding the EU budget for the next programming period 2014-2020 are entering into their last phase. The new European budget will depend on the mutual consent between all European institutions and member states. The budget is proposed by the EC, and is later approved by the European Parliament. Finally it should be adopted by all 27 EU member states. No consent has been achieved for the moment. The European Commission proposed that the EU budget in the next period should be increased. This was approved by the EP. However, the government of Cyprus has asked for a 5% decrease in the EU draft budget. The total new budget amounts to EUR 1.033 trillion. If all countries do not make an agreement, the Lisbon treaty envisages a mechanism, according to which the EU will continue functioning without a new budget, which is not a good option though.
“The EU budget does not mean money given by the European member states to the functionaries in Brussels”, said in an interview for RB Ivaylo Kalfin, Bulgarian MEP and European Parliament rapporteur on the 2014-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework and member of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. The budget looks huge in amount, but 94% of the funds go back to the tax payers.”
During the presidency of Cyprus of the EU, officials from this country proposed a decrease of at least EUR 50 billion in the expenses of the union for the next 7 years. They have also come up with a proposal for the launching of new criteria fro allotment of EU funds, which will make it harder for the countries to use such funds.
“This proposal came from the Cyprus’ officials during its EU presidency. The documents regarding this proposal will be sent to the President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy, who will try to come up with decisions at the special sitting of the European Council on November 22 and 23”, Ivaylo Kalfin goes on to say. “The EU countries are divided in their views. There are such, which approve a drastic cut in the EU budget. This is the so-called group “Friends of the reasonable spending”, which say that the rich countries can not pay the debts of the poorer ones forever and think that the scarce funds in the EU budget should be spent more effectively. There is another group of countries called “Friends of the Cohesion policy”, where most of the small EU countries, including Bulgaria take part. They insist that the new EU budget should be increased or at least remain at the current levels. Different countries have different arguments for that. Some of them say that the agricultural policy of the EU must remain strong. Some of them want more funds in the Cohesion funds, other say that the EU should continue to invest in innovations, science and develop the medium and the small businesses.”
The Cohesion policy is among the spheres, where the EU funds will be less. According to the ideas put forward by the Cyprus’ officials, the money granted to the poorest countries will be 2.36% of their total GDP, rather than the current 3%. This document also envisages a decrease in the advance payments, according to which they will go down to 1 or 2 % of the total sum, rather than the current 10%. Many experts in Brussels propose new criteria for the allotment of EU funds, linked with stronger fiscal discipline, low debts and macroeconomic stability.
“These are all possible decisions and it is still too early to be taken for granted”, says Ivaylo Kalfin. “We should not forget that Bulgaria also takes part in the decision making of the EU. So each country, including Bulgaria should vote for this budget. The Bulgarian government should have a clear view of what to approve, where compromises can be made and what should not be approved. If we look at the Cyprus’ proposal, we can definitely say that it is not good for Bulgaria at all. It means that in the best case scenario, our country will use the same amount of EU funds, if not less. Let me remind that Bulgaria is granted EUR 11 billion, but it will be more difficult for the country to absorb these funds. There will be new criteria and conditions. The EC will be able to suspend funds if countries are not following the policy line set by the commission. In other words countries will find it harder to absorb the EU funds”, Ivaylo Kalfin reiterated.
Ivaylo Kalfin said that it remains unclear if the EU will continue to pay compensations under the International Decommissioning Support Fund for the closure of 4 small nuclear units in Kozloduy NPP after 2020 and what funds will be granted to Bulgaria after 2013 as compensation for this closure. Bulgaria applied for EUR 450 million for the next 7 years, but only EUR 208 million have been guaranteed by the EU. The direct payments to the Bulgarian farmers will see an increase of 10% to 15% over the next 7 years, but will not reach the amounts granted to the older member states.
Source: bnr.bg