EU leaders have reached a political agreement on the bloc’s seven-year budget, which includes spending for overseas development and humanitarian aid. But the work is far from over.
The leaders have agreed to parliament demands for more flexibility in funding amid a reduced budget and a mid-term review that would allow the bloc to ensure it’s still on course to meet its goals under the 2014-2020 framework.
However, EU Parliament President Martin Schulz will still have to secure a majority vote in parliament sometime next week in Strasbourg to approve the deal, which stuck to the figures member states agreed to in February: €960 billion and €908 billion in commitments and payments, respectively.
This may prove to be a challenge, given that not all political groups are happy with the deal reached. The two biggest parties — the Group of Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats and the European People’s Party — while not fully satisfied, “welcomed” the deal.
The Greens and the European United Left/Nordic Green Left were not so welcoming, calling it a “weak compromise” reached without proper consultation with all parliamentary groups.
“Many issues are only partly dealt with and postponed for the future. We regret that the S&D and the EPP have already agreed to this bad deal and want to force the Parliament to welcome it already next week in Strasbourg,” GUE/NGL said in a statement.
The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, meanwhile, wants to first clarify several points in Strasbourg.
But an official at CONCORD who closely follows the EU budget discussions told Devex: “It looks like the vote in the EU parliament might deliver the necessary qualified majority to be able to approve the current MFF deal.” Political leaders such as Schulz, S&D head Hannes Swoboda and EPP chairman Joseph Daul, the official explained, would not have made those positive public statements if they would not feel sufficiently supported.
2014 budget
After the Multi-annual Financial Framework deal, EU leaders will have to face another budget headache: The 2014 EU budget.
The European Commission adopted its draft budget for 2014 on June 26. Under the Lisbon Treaty, draft annual budgets must be presented by July 1 or six months before the start of the financial year. It is traditionally released every April, but the lack of an agreed financial framework has made it difficult for the commission, which is in charge of the particular work.
“We present this draft budget today because the Lisbon Treaty clearly states that the Commission must do this by the 1 July at the latest […] we will adjust our proposal later on in the light of the final outcome on the 2014-2020 MFF adoption procedure,” EU Commissioner for Financial Programming and Budget Janusz Lewandowski said in a statement.
The draft budget proposes commitments of up to €142.46 billion, and payments of €136.06 billion in 2014, 6 percent and 5.8 percent less than the previous year. And under Global Europe or Heading 4, budget for several funding instruments related development also decreased.
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For instance, Devex analysis shows that the budget for the European Commission’s Development Cooperation Instrument — which supports development programs in South Africa and countries in Latin America, Asia, Central Asia and the Gulf region — went down to €2.3 billion from €2.64 billion in commitments, and €1.74 billion from €1.9 billion in payments from the past year. That’s a difference of 12.6 percent and 10.7 percent, respectively.
Humanitarian aid has fared better: From €865.25 million in commitments in 2013, it increased to €905.27 million. This is not the case for payments, which decreased by 4.4 percent.
The Commission’s EU Aid Volunteers meanwhile has also gotten a place in the proposed budget. The initiative, which will be officially launched in January 2014, has been allotted €12.67 million in commitments and €4.76 million in payments for the coming financial year.
The budget is not yet final and would also need the consent of the EU council and parliament. If they fail to agree on the proposal, they will have to go on another round of negotiations to reach a final agreement, which could provide a different set of breakdown for development and humanitarian aid.
EU bilateral aid for African, Caribbean and Pacific countries is under the 11th European Development Fund, which is outside the EU budget.
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About the author
Jenny Lei Ravelo@JennyLeiRavelo
Jenny Lei Ravelo is a Devex Senior Reporter based in Manila. She covers global health, with a particular focus on the World Health Organization, and other development and humanitarian aid trends in Asia Pacific. Prior to Devex, she wrote for ABS-CBN, one of the largest broadcasting networks in the Philippines, and was a copy editor for various international scientific journals. She received her journalism degree from the University of Santo Tomas.
