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The Permanent Representatives Committee today endorsed the Council's position on the 2014 EU draft budget (12222/13 + ADD 1 + ADD 2 + ADD 3 + ADD 4 + ADD 5). This is the first annual budget relating to the period of the new multiannual financial framework (MFF) 2014-2020 on which a political agreement was reached by the Council and the European Parliament at the end of June.
It herewith confirmed the agreement reached in the Council's budget committee on the basis of a compromise text of the Lithuanian presidency.
The Council's position, which still needs to be formally adopted by the Council (at the beginning of September), thoroughly respects the expenditure ceilings of the new MFF while keeping appropriate margins in order to meet possible unforeseen expenditure needs.
The Council's position amounts to
Compared to the 2013 EU budget as amended by amending budget no 1, commitments decrease by €9.33 billion or 6.15 per cent and payments increase by €1.79 billion or 1.35 per cent.
Compared to the amounts proposed by the Commission, the Council's position provides for a reduction by €240.68 million in commitments and €1.06 billion in payments.
New programmes and actions, such as the youth employment initiative, are exempted from reductions which have been targeted on the basis of past and current budget implementation and realistic absorption capacities.
Once it has been formally adopted, the Council's position will serve as a mandate to the Lithuanian presidency to negotiate next year's EU budget with the European Parliament, which is expected to adopt its amendments to the Council's position in the week starting on 21 October. If the Council's and the Parliament's positions diverge, a three-week conciliation period will start on 24 October (until 13 November included) (see flow-chart in the annex).
A summary of the draft Council's position is set out in the tables.