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The new draft budget for 2015 foresees €145.2 billion in commitments (+1.8% on 2014) and €141.3 billion in payments (+0.7% on 2014). The proposal has been transmitted to the European Parliament and the Council and with a view to continuing negotiations early next week.
"Our new budget proposal takes into account the views of the European Parliament and the Council, thus providing a sound basis for the renewal of negotiations", said Kristalina Georgieva, Vice-President for Budget and Human Resources. "It will hopefully pave the way for agreement on the 2015 EU budget and on the pending draft amending budgets for 2014, which we have proposed to help tackle the growing problem of unpaid bills. I've said it before and I'll say it again: this is not a budget for Brussels. Businesses, researchers, students, NGOs as well as towns and regions across the EU await the outcome of these talks, in order to have access to much needed funding. The Commission as an honest broker in these discussions will do everything in its power to provide Europe with a budget that serves our half a billion EU citizens."
The talks will cover the 2015 budget proposal, but also Draft Amending Budgets (DABs) for 2014. The Commission proposed the DABs for 2014 to cover legal obligations in research and innovation, education and support for small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as unusually high reimbursement claims from Member States in cohesion policy. This would come at no extra cost to national budgets, because of unexpected revenue, mostly from competition fines.
The proposal for a new Draft Budget 2015 is focused on supporting in particular those policies in favour of competitiveness and economic convergence, thus contributing to growth and jobs, as well as those budget lines which allow Europe to address crises especially in its neighbourhood.
The European Commission presented a new proposal for the 2015 EU budget, after member states rejected it on 17 November. However, the new proposal is almost identical to the former one, and there is little chance that the institutions will come to an agreement.
The talks, to be held next week, will cover the 2015 budget proposal, but also the Draft amending budget for 2014.
In case the three institutions fail to strike an agreement by 31 December 2014, from 1 January 2015, the EU would operate under the system of the “provisional twelfth”. In short, the budget appropriations for each chapter of the budget would be funded monthly by one twelfth of its 2014 budget or the relevant amount in the 2015 draft budget, whichever is less.
According to the Commission, the system of twelfths would have consequences for the perception of the ability of the EU to act. In particular, it would put on hold any new initiative or body that didn't have a budget for 2014.