Policy Activities » Policy Activities » Future of EU » EU Budget review 2008-2009

EU Budget review 2008-2009

The EU budget 2007-2013 was only agreed after long and painful negotiations between member states in the Council and within the European Parliament. An (inter-institutional) agreement was reached in April 2006. The agreement asks the Commission “to undertake a full, wide ranging review covering all aspects of EU spending” and to report on it during 2008 or 2009.

As part of this review the European Commission on September 12 2007 published a communication that launched a public consultation on the EU budget. The communication intends to serve as basis for the debate about future EU priorities, the management of the budget and the resources. The consultation was prolonged and runs until June 15 2008.

Find a briefing on the consultation here .

The Civil Society Contact Group on April 3 submitted its contribution to the EU budget review consultation. The Civil Society Contact Group contribution consists of a list of fundamental principles that the EU budget needs to respect:

The EU budget must respect and promote the values and rights as outlined in the Lisbon Treaty and contribute to achieving the Treaty aims and objectives
EU money is public money and it must serve the European public interest
EU funds must respect the principle of solidarity
Sustainable development must be the overarching goal of a new EU budget
Public budgeting and spending must be a transparent and accountable process
The process of public budgeting needs to allow for meaningful participation from public interest organisations
EU funds must be allocated in a way that reflects the EU’s policy priorities and that supports coherence within and between policies
There must be an immediate end to all perverse subsidies
EU spending should be subject to regular evaluation

Find the Civil Society Contact Group contribution here.

There is still time for all those of you who haven’t contributed yet, to still do so. You are welcome to use the Civil Society Contact Group contributions in the following ways:

If your organisation has an own contribution

you can add the CSCG contribution as an annex to your organisations own contribution
you can refer to it in your organisations own contribution
you can include parts of it in your own contribution

If your organisation doesn’t submit its own contribution

you are welcome to write a letter supporting the Civil Society Contact Group contribution.

After the consultation, ending on April 15 2008, the Commission will prepare a proposal for an EU budget review. The Commission plans to organise a conference on the results of the consultation during the second half of 2008. The Council is expected to adopt and publish the Commission’s proposal in early 2009.

The Civil Society Contact Group has also sent a letter to Commissioner Grybauskaité underlining the importance of a transparent and balanced process after the consultation and asking for the involvement of NGOs in the planned conference.

On January 24 2008 the Civil Society Contact Group organised a conference “Building a value based EU budget for the future –What role for NGOs?”. Over 90 participants, mostly NGO representatives, attended the conference. The morning saw a training session attended by about 70 participants. Warren Krafchik, Director of the International Budget Project, an NGO that "works to enhance the effective participation of civil society organizations in public budgeting in developing and transition countries" made the case for citizens involvement by outlining:

The value that civil society organizations can add to budget negotiations
The types of budget work
Possible changes in budgets
The challenges for advocacy
Successful strategies

Jan Seifert, assistant to Helga Truepel, Green MEP and member of the budget committee, explained how the EU budget currently functions and what the issues at stake in the review are. He explained

The annual budget
The seven year financial framework
The EU's own resources
Examples of successful lobbying

More political discussions took place during the afternoon session. European Commission representative Vasco Cal (cabinet member of the cabinet of Commissioner Grybauskaite, responsible for the EU budget review) urged the participants to use the opportunity to submit to the Commission their own ideas on the future priorities of the EU. He underlined that this stage was not about amounts but about the headings in the budget. It is crucial to link such a vision to the values as set out in the Lisbon treaty, insisted Roshan Di Puppo, director of the Social Platform. Finding the synergies between sectorial interests of NGOs and at the same time focusing on what the EU can do what member states can not to do on their own is the challenges NGOs are confronted with.

Find the conference report (including the presentations) here.

The NGO lunch debate organised by the Civil Society Contact Group on the income for the EU budget on May 21 2008, saw more then 35 participants most of them representatives of public interest organisations. An introductory briefing looked at where the EU money currently comes from and what alternative sources are being discussed. Claire Roumet, secretary general of the European Liaison Committee for Social Housing CECODHAS then spoke about the unfairness for poor people of consumption based (VAT) instead of wealth based taxation. Pendo Maro explained that the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) calls for earmarked environmental taxation. The EEB also proposes to install an open method of coordination (best practice exchange and coordination) in the field of environmental taxation, to respect the great variety of member state systems while still having European coordination.

The report is now available here.

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An (inter-institutional) agreement was reached in April 2006. The agreement asks the Commission “to undertake a full, wide ranging review covering all aspects of EU spending” and to report on it during 2008 or 2009. As part of this review the European Commission on September 12 2007 published a communication that launched a public consultation on the EU budget. The communication intends to serve as basis for the debate about future EU priorities, the management of the budget and the resources. The consultation was prolonged and runs until June 15 2008. Find a briefing on the consultation here . The Civil Society Contact Group on April 3 submitted its contribution to the EU budget review consultation. The Civil Society Contact Group contribution consists of a list of fundamental principles that the EU budget needs to respect: The EU budget must respect and promote the values and rights as outlined in the Lisbon Treaty and contribute to achieving the Treaty aims and objectives EU money is public money and it must serve the European public interest EU funds must respect the principle of solidarity Sustainable development must be the overarching goal of a new EU budget Public budgeting and spending must be a transparent and accountable process The process of public budgeting needs to allow for meaningful participation from public interest organisations EU funds must be allocated in a way that reflects the EU’s policy priorities and that supports coherence within and between policies There must be an immediate end to all perverse subsidies EU spending should be subject to regular evaluation Find the Civil Society Contact Group contribution here. There is still time for all those of you who haven’t contributed yet, to still do so. You are welcome to use the Civil Society Contact Group contributions in the following ways: If your organisation has an own contribution you can add the CSCG contribution as an annex to your organisations own contribution you can refer to it in your organisations own contribution you can include parts of it in your own contribution If your organisation doesn’t submit its own contribution you are welcome to write a letter supporting the Civil Society Contact Group contribution. After the consultation, ending on April 15 2008, the Commission will prepare a proposal for an EU budget review. The Commission plans to organise a conference on the results of the consultation during the second half of 2008. The Council is expected to adopt and publish the Commission’s proposal in early 2009. The Civil Society Contact Group has also sent a letter to Commissioner Grybauskaité underlining the importance of a transparent and balanced process after the consultation and asking for the involvement of NGOs in the planned conference. On January 24 2008 the Civil Society Contact Group organised a conference “Building a value based EU budget for the future –What role for NGOs?”. Over 90 participants, mostly NGO representatives, attended the conference. The morning saw a training session attended by about 70 participants. Warren Krafchik, Director of the International Budget Project, an NGO that "works to enhance the effective participation of civil society organizations in public budgeting in developing and transition countries" made the case for citizens involvement by outlining: The value that civil society organizations can add to budget negotiations The types of budget work Possible changes in budgets The challenges for advocacy Successful strategies Jan Seifert, assistant to Helga Truepel, Green MEP and member of the budget committee, explained how the EU budget currently functions and what the issues at stake in the review are. He explained The annual budget The seven year financial framework The EU's own resources Examples of successful lobbying More political discussions took place during the afternoon session. European Commission representative Vasco Cal (cabinet member of the cabinet of Commissioner Grybauskaite, responsible for the EU budget review) urged the participants to use the opportunity to submit to the Commission their own ideas on the future priorities of the EU. He underlined that this stage was not about amounts but about the headings in the budget. It is crucial to link such a vision to the values as set out in the Lisbon treaty, insisted Roshan Di Puppo, director of the Social Platform. Finding the synergies between sectorial interests of NGOs and at the same time focusing on what the EU can do what member states can not to do on their own is the challenges NGOs are confronted with. Find the conference report (including the presentations) here. The NGO lunch debate organised by the Civil Society Contact Group on the income for the EU budget on May 21 2008, saw more then 35 participants most of them representatives of public interest organisations. An introductory briefing looked at where the EU money currently comes from and what alternative sources are being discussed. Claire Roumet, secretary general of the European Liaison Committee for Social Housing CECODHAS then spoke about the unfairness for poor people of consumption based (VAT) instead of wealth based taxation. Pendo Maro explained that the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) calls for earmarked environmental taxation. The EEB also proposes to install an open method of coordination (best practice exchange and coordination) in the field of environmental taxation, to respect the great variety of member state systems while still having European coordination. The report is now available here.

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