MEPs reject long-term budget deal

Parliament says four demands must be met.

Members of the European Parliament voted this week to reject a deal struck between national leaders on the European Union’s long-term budget, instead presenting their own demands. The rejection, backed by two-thirds of MEPs, paves the way for negotiations with the member states, expected to start next week. Both sides hope that a compromise budget for 2014-20 can be adopted by June. 

A resolution rejecting the European Council’s deal was adopted in Strasbourg yesterday (13 March), with 506 MEPs voting in favour, 161 against and 23 abstaining. Although in the debate preceding yesterday’s vote, many MEPs from across the political spectrum criticised the spending ceilings that were set by the national leaders as too low, the resolution does not question the figures agreed by the member states. Instead, it sets out four demands that should be met if the Parliament is to approve any deal.

The Parliament wants the member states to provide €14 billion to cover claims for payments that have accumulated over previous fiscal years. It wants flexibility for the re-allocation of unspent funds between budget headings and budget years. The Parliament insists that the European Commission should review the multi-annual financial framework at its halfway point to assess whether adjustments might be required in the light of changing economic conditions. MEPs also demanded moves toward providing the EU with new sources of revenue, for example from a tax on financial transactions.

‘Fundamental importance’

Martin Schulz, the president of the European Parliament, said after yesterday’s vote: “These issues are of fundamental importance for the Parliament. The European Parliament will not accept the proposal from the member states unless there is movement on all of these issues.” He said that negotiations would not even begin unless claims for payment from the 2012 fiscal year were covered.

MEPs made it clear that their rejection – a term that had prompted much debate in the political groups ahead of the vote – was not the final word on the multi-annual financial framework.

The resolution says that the Parliament “rejects this agreement in its current form, as it does not reflect the priorities and concerns expressed by Parliament”. This was a particularly sensitive issue for the centre-right group, the European People’s Party, which is in power in a majority of member states. German centre-right MEPs were reluctant to oppose, in an election year, a budget deal that Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, had played a crucial part in shaping.

Herbert Reul, a centre-right German MEP, said: “What we need is not to shout ‘No’ but to take a differentiated approach. ‘No’ is the wrong response, it is the wrong message to send out.” Michael Theurer, a German Liberal who chairs the budgetary-control committee, said: “Do we say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ or do we agree that the MFF can be improved and should be improved?”

Ireland, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU’s Council of Ministers, will represent the member states in three-way negotiations between the Council, the Parliament and the Commission.

Lucinda Creighton, Ireland’s Europe minister, said she was not concerned by the language of rejection used in the resolution. She suggested the Parliament had to “put down a strong marker” in order to strengthen its negotiating position. “We have had a very substantial vote in favour of a very clear mandate for the negotiating team from the European Parliament,” she said. She said that this mattered more than the language of rejection used in the resolution.

Eamon Gilmore, Ireland’s foreign minister, said: “I look forward to engaging without delay on the next phase of negotiations, with a view to agreeing the MFF before the end of the Irish presidency. As far as I am concerned, it is full steam ahead.”

Creighton said that Ireland’s target was to have a deal in place before the Parliament plenary scheduled for 20-23 May. “We do not have a lot of time,” she said. “I think to leave it later than that would make it very difficult to meet all of our deadlines.”

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