If Minister Dyankov were in power, he would surely impose conditions on the European Parliament, which in its resolution of 14 March this year strongly urged Member States to repay their overdue contributions.
Unpaid bills from 2012 and 2013 should not pollute the budget for next year, the European Parliament said. MEPs insist that legally presented bills submitted last year and up to present moment in 2013 should be settled as soon as possible, so that in 2014, the first year of the new budgetary framework can start afresh.
Unpaid bills have been accumulated over the past few years as Member States refused to provide sufficient funds to cover both current and outstanding bills from previous periods. This is a vicious circle in which the outstanding accounts are transferred from year to year. And since the annual budgets include funds to pay old bills, each year the debt becomes larger.
What was collected in 2012 came to 16.2 billion euros from 50.6 billion in total claims of the Member States relating to cohesion policy. After settling all old accounts in 2013 will remain only 34.4 billion. This will inevitably lead to new a shortage of resources and if no solution is found, the programmes for 2014 will be at risk, says the resolution.
By the end of 2012 the level of committed but unpaid obligations has reached the unprecedented 217.3 billion euros and there is a risk of further growth this year, which in turn is the ground for accumulation of de facto budget deficit. MEPs urged the European Commission to present a draft amendment to the budget to ensure coverage of the obligations no later than the end of this month, so that the negotiations on the 2014 budget will not be jeopardized. The latter was actually agreed last year during budget negotiations in 2013.
To prevent shock payment of bills at the end of the year, MEPs proposed to institutions to report every month to the European Parliament and to the Council over the progress on the payments from big funds from each country.
The Parliament urges the Commission to make clear how the proposed budget will contribute to the achieving of objectives set in the Pact for Growth and Jobs, as agreed in June 2012. According to the European Parliament, the budget should not be viewed as an additional financial burden, but as an instrument to promote investment.
The ability of the EU budget to generate economic growth, competitiveness and job creation is more important than ever in times of economic difficulty, MEPs believe.
Bulgaria at this moment has paid everything is has committed to. However, there were moods for not payment of the contribution to the EU, both at governmental and parliamentary level.
In January this year, the independent MPs Cyril Gumnerov and Stoyan Ivanov demanded that Bulgaria should not transfer its contribution to the European Union this year.
Bulgaria has paid its full contribution to the EU of around 800 million in 2012. Our country has paid off with the union, but the Union has refused to settle its accounts with us, said Gumnerov.
Shortly before the end of 2012 Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and Finance Minister Simeon Dyankov said that at the end of 2012 the European Union has to pay almost 1 billion levs Bulgaria.
These funds have already been approved by the European Commission for already completed projects in Bulgaria, and investment have already been made, said Gumnerov and added: The EU has money, but not for Bulgaria. Over the same period, the EU has cut more than 40 billion of the Greece’s debts and has given them a new loan.
MEP Ivaylo Kalfin told the BANKER that at the end of October last year, the EU budget saw a deficit of 11 billion euros, Bulgaria, however, has paid all it was due to. was perfect.
With or without Djankov, however, Bulgaria is a regular payer to the total EU budget. The part of the contribution of Bulgaria to the EU budget, paid for January 2013 from the central budget amounted to 90.2 million lev, announced a few days ago the Ministry of Finance. The previous year due amounts were also paid on time.
The BANKER
