A specific EU budget line for the new EU stabilisation mechanism should be created as soon as possible, to ensure its credibility, Council, Commission and Parliament negotiators agreed at a three-way meeting on Wednesday.
A specific EU budget line for the new EU stabilisation mechanism should be created as soon as possible, to ensure its credibility, Council, Commission and Parliament negotiators agreed at a three-way meeting on Wednesday. With a specific budget line, as proposed by Parliament, the mechanism could be mobilised within 24 hours if necessary. MEPs also expressed their disappointment at the Council's proposed cuts in the 2011 budget.
The European stabilisation mechanism, including an EU loan guarantee worth €60 billion, was agreed upon between the EU Member States early in May, in response to reaction to the Greek debt crisis.
At Wednesday's meeting, Council and Commission representatives accepted Parliament's specific line proposal, which would provide EU budget backing for the mechanism, and decided to create a budget line for the mechanism in an amendment to the 2010 budget.
“Because of the gravity of the current economic situation, the Parliament would like to send a clear signal that we support the mechanism. This way, there could be no doubt that the EU's promises are serious”, said EP delegation leader Alain Lamassoure (EPP, FR).
The European Parliament shares EU budgetary powers with the Council of Ministers, so any use of EU money must be approved by both institutions. Parliament's support is therefore needed to mobilise the mechanism, should this become necessary (i.e. in the event that a Member State in receipt of a loan from the mechanism proves unable to reimburse it). Despite this fact, MEPs were neither consulted nor informed when Member States agreed to create the mechanism.
Need to improve decision-making
“In today's difficult situation, it is not the right time to discuss how the decision was taken. But for future similar agreements, we would definitely need to specify the roles of the different institutions, to avoid uncertainties like the one we have today”, added Mr Lamassoure.
2011 budget - savings need to be fully justified
Wednesday's meeting was also the first at which the three institutions discussed the 2011 budget. Parliament's delegation was disappointed with the series of cuts that the Council was considering making in the Commission's draft EU budget, said Sidonia Jędrzejewska (EPP, PL), who is leading Parliament's work on next year's budget.
“The Council is acting under pressure to make savings, but those savings must be well thought through and well justified. The Council's preliminary plans to reduce overall payments by €3.6 billion are worrying. I am particularly questioning the huge cut - over €1 billion - in cohesion policy (heading 1b) and some unacceptable cuts in key programmes, such as Lifelong Learning” she said.
The 2011 budget is the first to be negotiated under the Lisbon Treaty, which means that Parliament now has a full say over the whole budget, including agriculture. The Treaty also did away with the second reading of the budget in both the Council and in the Parliament. The new system, with only one reading, puts more pressure on the EU institutions to agree quickly. After Parliament's first reading, scheduled for October, the Council and Parliament now have only 21 days to reach a final agreement. The Council's first reading is scheduled for mid-July.
“I am awaiting the Council's official reading of the 2011 EU budget and I hope that its final proposals will be more reasonable”, said Ms Jędrzejewska.