EU Budget 2015: EPP Group urges the Council to reverse its position

“A sum of €23.4 billion was transferred to this year’s budget as it was left unpaid in 2013. We foresee tens of millions of Euros, due at the end of 2014, which will need to be carried over to 2015. This is the money which universities, Erasmus, SMEs and local authorities depend upon. These are implemented projects and programmes in Member States whose bills have not been paid! The 2015 budget must be credible and respect the Treaties. In this sense, we consider that the EU Budget should pay what it owes”, warned José Manuel Fernandes MEP, EPP Group Spokesman on Budgets.

The EPP Group proposes amendments to promote growth and jobs by strengthening scientific research, Erasmus+ and SMEs. It considers that all cuts introduced by the Council should be restored and proposes using all the flexibility instruments of the MFF in the 2015 budget, leading to an additional amount of more than €4 billion in payments in order to effectively address the situation.

“EU solidarity must also be strengthened: internally, the European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD) must be reinforced and milk and school fruit programmes should be left intact. Externally, neighbourhood policy and humanitarian aid must be supported and also take into account the impact of the crisis in Ukraine”, he concluded.