Lords to ask Treasury secretary about the proposed EU budget hike

Next Tuesday, 1 July, a House of Lords Committee which deals with economic affairs will put questions to Rt. Hon Nicky Morgan MP, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, on the draft 2015 EU budget, and whether the proposed increase can be justified.

Peers will ask the Minister whether the EU budget process is no longer fit for purpose, why such a massive backlog in payments claims has arisen, and whether she stands by the UK and other Member States' assertion that the Commission's proposed resort to an emergency pot of funds is “legally questionable”.

Other questions she will face include:

• Do you believe the proposed increase for 2015 is too high? Does more need to be done to focus the budget on growth and jobs?
• Should the Commission do more to identify opportunities for redeployment within the existing budget before asking for more money?
• Has the relationship between payments and commitments collapsed?
• Did the Government anticipate the pressure on later years that frontloading of the seven-year budget would create?
• Do such apparently intractable problems suggest that the budget-making process is irretrievably breaking down?

The evidence session will start at 3.10pm on Tuesday 1 July in Committee Room 3 of the House of Lords.

The session will be webcast at www.parliamentlive.tv and is also open to the public. Journalists wishing to attend should go to Parliament's Cromwell Green Entrance and should allow time for security screening.