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The Council's position 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.
The Council's position serves 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).