Germany and UK lead calls for EU spending cuts
Five member states demand that EU spending reflect national austerity measures.
Germany and the UK today (27 January) led a demand by five member states for a large cut in the amount of money the EU should spend in 2014-20.
Guido Westerwelle, Germany’s foreign minister, told a meeting of the General Affairs Council that the multiannual financial framework (MFF) for 2014-20 had to take into account austerity measures being implemented at national level.
He said that Germany “could not agree” with the European Commission’s proposal for a total of €1,053 billion in commitments – around 1.05% of the EU’s gross national income (GNI) for the period. “The Commission proposal needs to be cut by €100bn,” said Westerwelle. “We are engaged in budgetary consolidation.”
Four other countries, Austria, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK, backed Westerwelle’s call for a €100bn cut in the size of the MFF compared to the Commission’s proposal. Three other member states, France, Finland and the Czech Republic, said the Commission’s proposal was too high, but did not specify what reduction they were seeking.
Maroš Šefčovič, the European commissioner for inter-institutional relations and administration, said that 18 member states backed the Commission’s proposal.
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‘10% increase’ in spending
David Lidington, the UK’s Europe minister, said that the EU could not be “exempt from national efforts member states are now having make”, adding that the Commission’s proposal represented an increase in spending of “more than 10%”.
He reiterated a call made by the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland, in December, for the level of spending in the MFF to be capped at the rate of inflation.
Nicolai Wammen, Denmark’s European affairs minister who chaired today’s talks, had asked his EU counterparts to state whether they agreed with the Commission’s figure and, if not, what level they favoured.
Many of the national delegations that supported the Commission’s proposal said it was the bare minimum they could accept.
‘Good compromise’
Iñigo Méndez de Vigo, Spain’s European affairs minister, said the Commission proposal was “a good compromise”, adding that spending on cohesion and agriculture policies should not be cut. Didier Reynders, Belgium’s foreign minister, appealed to those calling for cuts to “avoid being contradictory”, adding that their proclaimed goals for more jobs and growth could not be met without at least the amount being proposed by the Commission.
Negotiations at ministerial level are to continue over the coming months.
Denmark, which holds the presidency of the EU’s Council of Minister’s, hopes to use the talks to narrow divisions on the proposal and present a “negotiating box” to EU leaders in June.