Before the final “fight” over the EU budget, the EC opposed its reduction

BRUSSELS, Oct 12 - RIA Novosti. The European Commission, on the eve of the EU summit, at which a “final fight” on the draft budget is expected, opposed the reduction of anti-crisis and other budget items, warning that the association may lose the ability to provide emergency assistance to farmers and regions in the event of new crises, Politico reports, citing European diplomats familiar with the course of closed negotiations.

“We are extremely concerned about the reduction in flexibility in the use of funds. As a result of these changes, we will have no way to help farmers and regions when crises caused by climate change or geopolitical tensions arise,” one European diplomat told the publication.

According to Politico, relevant objections were expressed at a meeting of EU ambassadors on Sunday by Stephanie Rizo, a senior representative of the European Commission on budgetary issues.

She warned that cutting, for example, anti-crisis reserve funds by more than 22 billion euros would significantly limit the EU's ability to respond to future emergencies.

The European Commission also believes that the proposed changes will make the next seven-year budget even less flexible than the current one, and may force Brussels to revise it already in the middle of the budget period to respond to new crises.

При этом министр Ирландии по европейским делам Томас Бирн отверг подобные опасения.

"Every section of this negotiating document provides for increased flexibility throughout the proposal," he said at a news conference on Saturday.

Ирландия, до конца декабря председательствующая в Совете ЕС, 10 октября представила проект бюджета объединения на 2028-2034 годы с сокращением расходов на 159 миллиардов евро в текущих ценах, или примерно на 8%, по сравнению с первоначальным предложением Еврокомиссии.

The main reductions are proposed to be made through European economic competitiveness programs, external assistance and anti-crisis reserves, while maintaining basic agricultural subsidies and regional payments.

However, even such cuts did not satisfy Germany and other states advocating even more stringent budgetary austerity. According to Politico, on Sunday they sent a letter to the team of European Council President António Costa with complaints about the new project.

“In the next draft budget, we will definitely have to cut spending on regional politics and agriculture,” a diplomat from one of the countries advocating spending cuts told the publication.

According to him, maintaining funding for traditional programs at the expense of cutting new EU priorities does not correspond to the issues that European leaders intend to discuss at the upcoming summit.

Previously, 17 EU countries demanded that agricultural subsidies and regional funding be protected from cuts. As a result, Ireland proposed shifting the bulk of fiscal savings to other programs, including industry, research and foreign policy.

In addition, according to Politico, the Irish presidency has weakened the European Commission's link between the allocation of European funding to states and their implementation of economic reforms, which most governments oppose.

The European Commission's original project envisaged spending almost 2 trillion euros at current prices. The new option involves reducing them to approximately 1.826 trillion euros.