[Brussels 16th Reuters]-The European Commission has proposed an increase in the European Union's next seven-year budget, but Germany insists on keeping it down to the current budget, and the conflict is clear. According to EU officials, if the agreement is not settled quickly, the EU side may be forced to reduce proposals aimed at boosting the economy.
The EU has begun to consider the budget for 2021-27, but there are growing concerns that the regional economy will enter into recession, and the UK, one of the member countries with the highest burden of the EU budget, In the midst of uncertainty about the withdrawal from the EU, the gap between member countries over the medium-term budget is greater than in the past.
European Commissioner Ettinger (Budget and Human Resources) said at the EU Ministerial Conference in Brussels “If the budget is not agreed by 1 January, the EU will be in a difficult economic and geopolitical situation. I am strongly concerned. ” He stressed that the urgency of the agreement increased due to the economic downturn in the region against the backdrop of economic stagnation in member countries such as Germany.
Since the EU needs to prepare a new budget for each year after formulating the 7-year budget, it is necessary to finalize negotiations for the medium-term budget at an early stage.
The European Commission, the EU's executive body, presented a medium-term budget last year totaling € 1.1 trillion ($ 1.222 billion). This is 1.11% of the gross national income (GNI). UK contributions are not included.
However, according to a document read by Reuters, Germany, which is the largest economy in the EU and has a large contribution, expressed its desire to keep its ratio to GNI at 1%. Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands are also supporting the German careful proposal.
The current 2014-20 budget is also 1% of the GNI, but the European Commission is calling for an increase from the previous year to raise spending on research, the digital economy, border management, and defense.
On the other hand, the German government stresses that even if the budget size is limited to 1% of the GNI, there will be no contribution from the UK, so the burden on member countries will increase.
The European Parliament, on the other hand, is calling for the budget to be increased to 1.3% of the GNI, reflecting the claims of South and Eastern European countries that are net beneficiaries of the EU budget. The lawmakers are also calling for a funding for climate change and unemployment benefits, which are set as new priorities by the next European Commissioner Von De Alien.
<Viewing ambitious budget is difficult>
Spain's Minister for European Affairs Aguiliano at the ministerial meeting expressed his view that controversy over budgets made it almost impossible to find a compromise within the year.
However, one EU official points out that there is a grace period until the first half of 2020.
Poland's Minister for European Affairs Simansky said at a ministerial meeting that if the budget size was set low, ambitious policy goals would be reduced.