Revised 2015 budget
10 December 2014
2015 EU budget deal: Committee seeks clarification of Council agreement
- Letter: Draft EU budget 2015 101214.pdf
The Council position was agreed on 9 December, following the publication by the Commission of a revised 2015 Budget on 28 November 2014. A new Draft Budget was put forward after the process of conciliation between the Council and the European Parliament on the Commission’s original proposal failed.
The Council has agreed commitments of €145.3 billion and payments of €141.2 billion, nearly identical to the Commission’s proposal of €145.2 in commitments and €141.3 billion in payments.
The Committee has written to the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, David Gauke MP:
- Asking whether the agreement of figures so close to the Commission’s proposal indicates that the UK and other like-minded Member States gave way in their efforts to secure greater budgetary restraint;
- Setting out its fears that the discrepancy between commitments and payments is creating a tidal wave of money owed in relation to the EU Budget;
- Asking for clarification of agreement on the use of the Contingency Margin, the “last resort instrument” included for the first time in the 2014-2020 EU Budget Multiannual Financial Framework.
The Committee has requested a response to the letter by 6 January 2015, and has also requested that the Minister appear before the Committee at its meeting on 27 January 2015.