Budget to cover research and support to SMEs

The European Commission has proposed increasing the 2014 level of payment appropriations by €4.74bn to cover legal obligations in research and innovation, education, and support for SMEs.

Higher reimbursement claims from EU member states in the cohesion policy have to be addressed as well as the difficult situation in Ukraine, according to the Commission. The Commission is proposing to use unallocated margins under the payment ceiling and recourse to the special instrument, the Contingency Margin. However, the net cost to member states will be significantly lower – €2.17bn – as the Commission will cash in more than €1.5bn in additional revenue, mainly from competition fines as well as more than €1bn resulting from the implementation of the 2013 budget.

Draft amending budget 3 addresses the need for additional payments for EU programmes that have been increased to support Europe’s economic recovery and encourage economic growth and jobs, namely Horizon 2020, Erasmus+, and COSME. Furthermore, several legislative acts have been concluded after the adoption of the 2014 budget and require more payment appropriations. Finally, some other programmes require a top-up to cover the requirements of the past year.

The proposal also covers Cohesion Policy as some €3.4bn is required to meet unusually high reimbursement claims from EU member states, as well as the support package to Ukraine (€250m) in order to cover the payment of the first instalment in June 2014.