As expected, the Council approved yesterday and the European Parliament approved today the 2012 EU budget as agreed in the Conciliation Committee on 19 November. The 2012 EU budget is, therefore, considered adopted. Hence, the total payments for the 2012 EU budget will amount to €129.088 billion and the commitments will amount to €147.232 billion.
The Council proposal of €129.088 billion in payment appropriations, which represents an increase on 2.02% compared to 2011, has therefore been accepted. However, the Council and the European Parliament also approved the draft amending budget No 6 for the EU budget 2011, therefore, the increase in the 2012 budget compared to 2011 budget is 1.86%.
It is important to note that the UK voted against that draft-amending budget, but was outvoted by other Member States. The draft-amending budget No 6 for the EU budget 2011 entails an increase in payment appropriations by € 200 million.
According to Mark Hoban, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, “This is an excellent deal for the UK.” Moreover, he said “We have stopped the European Commission and Parliament's inflation-busting proposals and have delivered on the Government's promise to freeze the EU budget in real terms.” It is important to recall that the UK voted against the Council’s position. And now, Mark Hoban is claiming victory for having achieved the outcome that the UK voted against a few months ago.
In the other hand, the Council accepted the European Parliament’s demand for the EU 2012 spending committees to rise to €147.2 bn. Such arrangement will increase the UK’s contribution to the EU budget by about €409m.
Moreover, in exchange for the limited increase, the member states also committed to accept requests for additional payment appropriations through amending budgets, in order to avoid any shortfalls. In fact, there is a Joint Statement on payment appropriations by the Council and the European Parliament where they asked “the Commission to request additional payment appropriations in an amending budget if the appropriations entered in the 2012 budget are insufficient to cover expenditure …” Consequently, we should expect the budget to be amended several times during 2012.
