Lewandowski: “puzzled” over budget

The European Commissioner for Financial Programming and Budget, Janusz Lewandowski, has expressed renewed concerns over the 2014 EU annual budget.

Lewandowski has described the Council of the European Union’s new position paper as ‘contradicting’ the agreement between the EU heads of government. He added that the council was now calling for a further reduction in spending which could result in decreased funding for the Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and SMEs (COSME) or Horizon 2020.

In a statement, the Commissioner said: “Common sense has not prevailed in the Council, and that is worrying. I am puzzled. Our proposal for Europe’s 2014 budget constituted a sharp cut on 2013, about 6% for both commitments and payments, yet the Council now calls for even further cuts.”

The Commission has proposed a 6% reduction in expenditure for 2014 compared to 2013.

Lewandowski described COSME and Horizon 2020, the programmes most hit under the area of ‘Smart and inclusive growth’, as the initiatives that the European Council designated as requiring increased investment. The Commissioner said that it was wrong for the heads of government to agree spending priorities only for national governments to “ignore them”.

According to a Council statement, the 2014 EU annual budget will see a reduction by €240.68m in commitments and €1.06bn in payments. Trilaogue negotiations on the 2014 budget are set to take place in October 2013.