Doslovný zápis z rozpráv

Utorok, 14. septembra 2021 - Štrasburg

5. Predstavenie pozície Rady k návrhu všeobecného rozpočtu – rozpočtový rok 2022 (rozprava)

  Der Präsident. – Als nächster Punkt der Tagesordnung folgt die Erläuterung des Standpunkts des Rates zum Entwurf des Gesamthaushaltsplans für das Haushaltsjahr 2022 durch den Rat [2021/2762(RSP)].

  Irena Drmaž, President-in-Office of the Council. – Mr President, I am honoured to present today the Council position on the draft budget for the European Union for the financial year 2022. Firstly, I have to recall the challenges of the COVID-19 situation that has imposed issues on all of us as well as on the preparation of the budget. The pandemic has had a significant impact on the everyday life of European citizens and also on the way European institutions work.

We have seen over the summer the changing situation that can occur at any time through natural or other disasters, and the recent international events will surely generate future uncertainties in many areas such as border management, humanitarian aid and migration. It is therefore very important for the Council to foresee sufficient margins in the budget to face the challenges and risks that may await us also next year.

Let me emphasise that in these challenging and dynamic times, we are fully aware of the responsibility as budgetary authority to fulfil the expectations of EU citizens to bring forward a balanced and forward-looking budget for 2022. As always, the Council will call for prudence and financial discipline. In the current situation we need to be careful about how the EU taxpayers’ contributions are spent. The Presidency will do its utmost to conclude a budget for next year that will take the EU forward, focusing on the main objectives of the Union and benefits for the citizens.

We have worked on the Commission’s proposal since its presentation on 8 June. I am pleased to say that after careful reflection, the Council has reached a well-balanced position adopted with unanimity on 6 September. The Council position foresees an amount of EUR 167.6 billion in commitment appropriations and EUR 169.9 billion in payments appropriations. They correspond, respectively, to 1.12% and 1.14% of the EU GNI – gross national income – and ensure a quick and substantial progression of the main beneficiary programmes.

On operational expenditure: for Headings 1-6 the Council proposes some adjustments in the commitment appropriations to take into account the delays in the adoption of legal bases and to guarantee a balanced evolution of expenditure until 2027. This is in particular relevant for the programmes that benefit from top-ups from Article 5 of the MFF Regulation and significant additional appropriation from the assigned revenues that come from the Next Generation EU (NGEU).

Based on a realistic view on the absorption capacity of beneficiaries and national and European administrations, we expect the implementation of several programmes in 2022 to be lower, as foreseen by the Commission. We therefore propose to backload the financing of some programmes to the second part of the MFF period. In addition, we advocate not using Article 15(3) of the Financial Regulation in 2022, but to backload the proposed amounts to the second part of the MFF period. We should ensure appropriate funding of Horizon also after the top-ups from NGEU.

I would like to stress the fact that a large number of key programmes across all headings have been accepted at the level of the Commission’s draft budget. This is the case, for instance, for programmes under economic, social and territorial cohesion, as well as for agriculture, which represent the largest budget shares.

Concerning Heading 6, the Council intends to adjust the NDICI by reducing the cushion and ring-fencing the Commission’s margins for manoeuvre for next year and by adjusting the appropriations of the Common Provisioning Fund, yet allowing for a prudent provisioning or related compartment.

As regards payment appropriations, most of the proposed savings are due to the repayment costs of the funds borrowed in the capital markets in the framework of the European Recovery Instrument to take into account the lower interest rates, both current and expected. The Council does not propose any changes to the complexion lines to ensure smooth payments from previous years.

On administrative expenditure: following the guidance given by our leaders, the Council has consistently advocated strict discipline on both staffing levels and non-salary related expenditure for all institutions. Therefore, we have reduced Heading 7. In this context, I would like to draw your attention to the issue that raised great concern in all Member States, the proposal of the European Parliament to increase significantly its establishment plan and the number of its external staff for the next year. The Council reserves its position on these proposals. We would like to better understand the rationale behind such an important increase.

Concerning the decentralised agencies, we propose to adjust lines for expenditure for some of those agencies as cruising speed when their increase is higher than 2%. However, we did not propose any adjustments to the decentralised agencies with new tasks, with the only exception of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex, for which certain appropriations are backloaded to the financial years 2023-2027 and a certain amount is put to a reserve.

On special instruments: the Council proposes to maintain the appropriations entered into draft budgets for 2022 for the Solidarity and Emergency Aid Reserve, the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund and the Flexibility Instrument. It also proposes to introduce in the Brexit Adjustment Reserve line the amount agreed by the co-legislators for both commitment and payment appropriations for 2022.

It is also worth noting that two Council statements are attached to our position, one of them being the traditional one concerning sufficient payment appropriations in the area of agriculture and cohesion, while the other refers to Next Generation EU repayments. The Council will reassess its position once the Commission presents all the missing elements in its letter of amendment to the draft budget which is expected during the month of October.

Let me conclude by saying that I hope today is the beginning of a series of constructive and open exchanges which will allow us to reach a balanced and meaningful compromise on the budget for 2022. Without deviating from our common goals we will have to prioritise and demonstrate our strong commitment to Europe, and I am convinced we will be able to find a common position within agreed timeframe.

  Johannes Hahn, Member of the Commission. – Mr President, first, I would like to welcome the agreement found by the Slovenian Presidency and Ms Drmaž on the Council position for the draft budget 2022, and I would also like to thank you, Ms Drmaž, for the clear presentation of the Council position, but let me also make some remarks.

The Commission has presented a draft budget for 2022 which is in line with the multiannual financial framework (MFF) agreement reached nine months ago. The margins left in our proposal – I’m talking about EUR 1.2 billion in commitments and EUR 1.4 billion in payments – are adequate to cover unforeseen needs. The Commission regrets the Council proposal to increase margins by cutting by EUR 722 million the commitments of the draft budget of EUR 1.4 billion in payments. These cuts are not accompanied by adequate justification.

Some remarks concerning the different headings: in particular Heading 1, Single market, Innovation and Digital, which accounts for 12.9% of the budget in commitments, suffers 30% of the Council’s proposed reductions. These disproportionate cuts are at odds with the priority given to this heading by many Member States. The proposed cuts would mean that programmes may be hampered and delayed. Specifically, for Horizon Europe you have proposed cuts of EUR 316 million, which I find difficult to understand given the excellent absorption capacity of the programme and the importance of research for the competitiveness and sustainability of our economy.

The same applies for the Digital Europe Programme and Invest EU. I invite the Council to be open and reconsider its position regarding the very large cut – I’m talking about EUR 300 million – on the interest line for the European recovery instrument NGEU in Heading 2b, Resilience and Values. It is true that the first borrowing rates for NGEU have been very favourable; however, it would be prudent to wait until later this year to have a clearer view of the outlook for next year. I would propose to come back to this issue at the time of the conciliation.

For Heading 6, Neighbourhood and the World, the large reduction proposed to the NDICI cushion – we are talking here about EUR 400 million – not only jeopardises the implementation of the recently adopted legal base, but also the financing for Syrian refugees in Turkey and beyond. I would urge, therefore, the Council to reconsider this position, also in view of the upcoming amending letter.

We take note of the position of the Council regarding the EP budget and the increase in staff requested mainly by Parliament. I would just like to recall that while stable staffing in all the institutions is not explicitly provided for in the Interinstitutional Agreement, the MFF ceilings for Heading 7 were established on that assumption and were agreed by both Parliament and the Council. And I have to say that I think we should also look at this issue in view of the potential development of the inflation rate.

The Commission has made a balanced proposal in line with the Union’s political priorities to get Europe back on track by stimulating the recovery and facilitating the green and digital transitions, while always ensuring EU added value, impact and results. The proposal was based on thorough analyses of the level of appropriations required. Providing adequate financing for successful programmes is a necessity and therefore the cuts proposed by the Council raise serious concerns.

As regards the next steps, we will present, as usual, the amending letter in October to update agricultural expenditure and some new elements which will have been proposed or updated since the adoption of the statement of estimates on 8 June. For example, the impact for 2022 of the proposed package for the Syrian refugees as presented in June.

Following the DB reading, I will send you the usual executability letter just before the start of the conciliation. I believe that the budgetary negotiations on the 2022 draft budget can be concluded according to the calendar agreed. I think last year should and could be a good example. I and my team stand ready to work with your rapporteurs and the Presidency during the procedure to facilitate an agreement between Parliament and the Council.

  Karlo Ressler, rapporteur. – Mr President, we are entering the peak of the budgetary procedure for the next annual budget of the EU. There is still a lot of uncertainties in front of us, so we will have to remain level-headed and adaptable, but the Parliament will firmly insist on our priorities.

Expectations of citizens, reflected also here in the Parliament, are understandably high. The next budget has to be a recovery budget, tailored to support all regions, all sectors and all generations.

With this in mind, cuts proposed by the Council are, in our opinion, wrong and unacceptable. They include a number of cuts in programmes with excellent absorption capacities. Some of them were already mentioned by the Commissioner, such as Horizon Europe, InvestEU or the Life Programme. This clearly goes against the political declarations, not only of this House but also of the Council. The cuts are therefore impossible to justify, and they are hardly in line also with the priorities of the Council Presidency.

It is especially crucial to use additional appropriations in certain key areas: support the driving force of the European recovery and economy, small and medium enterprises. Secondly, reinforce future-oriented programmes in research, innovation and education, with a special focus on youth. Thirdly, to strengthen the European Health Union and fourthly, to boost our efforts towards a digital, green and secure Europe.

With these aims, we propose to fully reuse the decommitments in the field of research as there is an unexpected amount of decommitments in 2020, which was not part of the MFF agreement. This amount must not be lost, and the Parliament really sees no good reason to waste this opportunity, which is clearly provided by the financial regulation.

Finally, the events in Afghanistan will obviously largely shape our discussions on the budget, similarly as the discussions with the Facility for Refugees, and we will need to reinforce humanitarian aid, and this should not be done at the expense of other, especially external, priorities.

It is evident that there is the need for additional financing following the recent events, and this is something that will be high on the Parliament’s priorities.

Commissioner, Minister Delegate, in the recent Eurobarometer survey our citizens welcomed Europe’s recovery path in responding to the economic effects of the pandemic. Let us now meet the expectations and continue to build a strong and resilient Europe.

  Damian Boeselager, rapporteur. – Mr President, our European institutions are in a delicate situation. On the one hand, the economic consequences of the COVID crisis necessitate prudence in spending and planning. On the other, the crisis itself and our responses to it force us to do things differently, to invest and to recover.

Minister, let me tell you that I have sympathy for your prudent approach and I myself and the shadows have applied that prudence in developing our position on the budget. We have spoken extensively to all institutions, we have looked at each budgetary line and we have tried to understand clearly where the needs lie. We made clear that this is not a time for unreasonable budgetary increases. But it seems to me that the Council and Parliament still fundamentally diverge in their approach to the budget. Whereas the Council is applying horizontal cuts, the Parliament’s reading is based on a detailed analysis of the needs of each European institution, which supervise, execute and implement EU law and policy.

It is one of those needs that I want to especially highlight in this context. As you know, the recovery fund leads to an unprecedented flow of EU money to our economies. I have negotiated this law and I am immensely proud of what we have achieved. However, the Council completely ignores that additional money also requires additional supervision. In this context, it seems bizarre to me that the Council cuts posts and budget for the Court of Auditors and, by the way, also for the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF). We should be increasing these budgets because European citizens demand that funds are not being wasted or defrauded. I also cannot understand why you would like to cut many other institutions like the Court of Justice or the European External Action Service (EEAS). All of those posts are, in our view, fully justified and based on the reality on the ground.

Finally, I want to remind you of the incredibly important need to reform and update our European institutions at all times to meet the challenges of our time. We owe it to citizens to constantly rejuvenate and reform from within. That’s why I’m incredibly proud that, with COVID, our Parliament has risen to this task and has started a process of internal rejuvenation and reform, which is actually ongoing as we speak. In open process, we have looked at ways in which to be better at scrutiny, we want to improve the committee culture and the hearings in the way they work and we want to strengthen the plenary debates to be more engaging and representative of our issues. I invite all institutions to undergo a similar process of rejuvenation and internal reform.

In the same spirit, I invite you, Minister, to push the Council to actually actively engage in the Conference on the Future of Europe, where these debates are taking place on a grander scale. It’s our shared responsibility to ensure that our institutions are ready for the 21st century and that we can actually work for the well-being and interests of our citizens. I can only hope that the Council and Commission join us in the spirit of responsibility, reform and rejuvenation.

  Johan Van Overtveldt, Chair of the Committee on Budgets. – Mr President, I think it’s an understatement to say that a lot has changed in the past year. We kicked off a new budgetary cycle with the adoption of the new MFF a little bit more than six months ago, and we also reached an historic agreement on the recovery instrument.

However, it is clear that at this point in time the signs of improvement of the economic scene remain very fragile. We cannot ignore the ongoing struggle with the pandemic, and also the fact that we are seeing the new Delta variant, we are seeing possibly a new wave.

But there are some things that do not seem to change. The Council appears for us the guardian of an outdated ‘business as usual’ approach, still following the logic of top—down cuts to reach a pre—determined overall reduction target. Concretely this means cutting across Union programmes and instruments no matter the added value, no matter the absorption capacity or the political relevance.

A striking example is Horizon Europe. We all know this programme. It has proven its success and ability to support health, digital, green and other objectives. This programme was cut by the Council already in the MFF negotiations, and from Parliament’s side we succeeded in getting back EUR 4 billion into it, but now the Council is proposing to downsize it once more, for 2020. This is not serious.

Also, how can the Council reduce the digital dimension, when achieving digital sovereignty is a clear and across—the—board shared objective? And how can it justify the cuts in the EU4Health programme? At the moment we are hearing that probably tomorrow we will hear about a new initiative, the Health Emergency Response Authority, with a budget of EUR 6 billion. So we are looking forward to seeing how that fits in with what is already on the table and what should come on the table.

It’s time for Parliament to define its position. We will be ready to enter into negotiations, as the rapporteur has already indicated, as soon as Parliament has adopted its reading in mid—October, with a clear objective that the 2020 budget is fit to face the challenges ahead of us. However, it is already clear for us that we need to revise the MFF in order to take into account the impact of, for example, the new Health Initiative, the consequences of the situation in Syria, and then of course also the recent developments in Afghanistan. There will be a lot on our plate.

  Irena Drmaž, predsedujoča Svetu. – Gospod predsednik, komisar, poročevalci, gospe in gospodje. Zahvaljujem se vam za to zanimivo in plodno izmenjavo mnenj.

Današnja razprava je pokazala, da imamo kljub različnim stališčem o posameznih točkah proračuna skupen cilj – vzpostaviti stabilen proračun Evropske unije za leto 2022. Morda se razlikujemo le na način in vrstni red prioritet, kako doseči te skupne cilje. Želim opozoriti morda le na to, da Svet ni znižal proračuna nobene od evropskih institucij, le znižal je rast izdatkov.

Zdaj zato še bolj z zanimanjem pričakujemo stališče Evropskega parlamenta o proračunu za leto 2022, ki bo podlaga za oblikovanje stališč, o katerih se bomo pogajali, da bi v novembru dosegli končni dogovor. Vemo, da se lahko zanesemo na Komisijo, da bo delovala kot nepristranska posrednica pri premoščanju vrzeli med našimi stališči in predlagala uravnotežene kompromisne rešitve.

Unija kot celota potrebuje proračun, ki bo izpolnjeval potrebe njenih državljank in državljanov v obdobju po pandemiji. To pomeni, da moramo poiskati pravo ravnovesje med učinkovitimi in ciljanimi izdatki ter omejiti preveliko davčno obremenitev gospodarstva in prebivalstva Evropske unije. Prepričana sem, da bomo s predanimi prizadevanji vseh lahko pravočasno dosegli ta dogovor. Ponovno se vam zahvaljujem za vašo pozornost in hvala lepa.

  Der Präsident. – Danke, Frau Drmaž. Das Ziel ist ein Haushalt, der den Herausforderungen unserer Zeit gerecht wird und die Erwartungshaltung der Bürgerinnen und Bürger in die Handlungsfähigkeit der Europäischen Union erfüllt.

Die Aussprache zu diesem Tagesordnungspunkt ist damit geschlossen.

Schriftliche Erklärungen (Artikel 171)

  Victor Negrescu (S&D), in writing. – The European Council has presented an unambitious budget proposal containing several important cuts. 2022 has to be a full implementation year for EU programmes with important priorities for the social recovery, sustainable future, solidarity and EU values. Investing more in healthcare and education, and developing our economies and social infrastructure – while leaving no one behind – are key priorities. We have to make sure that the EU’s budget delivers on all EU priorities, relaunches our economies, ensures the protection of our citizens and invests in our future. We call for more ambition from the Council and Member States in reaching our common targets, managing the pandemic and preparing for future challenges linked with the digital and green transformations.