Lords EU Committee condemns failings in EU budgetary process
22 October 2014
The House of Lords EU Economic and Financial Affairs Sub-Committee has written to HM Treasury to critisise the failings in the EU budgetary process.
In a letter sent today to HM Treasury, the House of Lords EU Economic and Financial Affairs Sub-Committee has criticised the failings in the EU budgetary process. The letter, addressed to the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, David Gauke MP, reflects on evidence heard from leading MEPs:
- Jean Arthuis MEP, Chair of the European Parliament Committee on the Budget (BUDG);
- Dr Ingeborg Grässle, Chair of the European Parliament Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT); and
- Richard Ashworth MEP, UK Conservative MEP and members of the BUDG and CONT Committees.
The Committee’s letter states that no-one is taking the initiative to resolve the failures and weaknesses of the budgetary process, which the European Commission’s repeated need to table draft amending budgets testifies to. The Committee calls for Member States to be closely engaged in a mid-term strategic review to ensure that the EU budget stays within fiscal limits. The Committee warns that drastic steps now need to be taken to address the backlog in outstanding payments under the budget that have built up over a number of years and to ensure that the relationship between payments and commitments is restored to an even keel. The Committee warns that, unless urgent steps are taken to address these problems, there is a real and present danger that the 2014-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework deal will unravel.
The Committee also criticises the EU institutions and the UK Government alike for their failure to keep effective control over the budgetary process. It calls on the new Commission President, Jean Claude-Juncker, to address these problems. It also rebukes the UK Government for its “counterproductive and complacent” attitude to negotiations on the annual budget. It states that the Government needs to do more to identify specific savings and reforms to the system, and to engage in a structured conversation with UK MEPs on the budgetary committees to help achieve these goals.
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