TÁNAISTE EAMON GILMORE has been accused of ‘manipulation’ after claiming to have negotiated a deal with European Parliament on the EU’s budget for 2014 to 2020.
German MEP Reimer Böge said that Gilmore’s statements are “a rather objectionable manipulation by the presidency”, Europe Online Magazine reported.
Böge said he was stepping down from his position as one of the parliament’s negotiators in the talks.
Last night, Gilmore said that agreement has been reached on the budget after a 24-hour meeting. He said:
We have agreed a package that we are both going to recommend to our respective institutions. I will present this agreement to member states next Tuesday.
However, also today Hannes Swoboda, president of the Socialists & Democrats Group in the European Parliament, said that there was no agreement from the parliament, and that they will not be rushed into a decision.
We deeply regret that the Council did not make a more substantial move towards the European Parliament’s demands for EU citizens.
He said that “obtaining an efficient and appropriately funded package for the fight against youth unemployment remains the top priority, alongside real flexibility to fully use promised funding from the European budget”.
It is clear that there is no agreement from the European Parliament at this time. The Socialists and Democrats Group will – taking its responsibilities more seriously than the Council – carefully discuss all elements of the latest proposal and come to a decision only after that evaluation.
He added that the timing of the next General Affairs Council meeting next Tuesday is “unfortunate”, and said that the current proposal could have been presented much earlier and the Council meeting should be postponed to a later date.
Ireland
Irish MEP Nessa Childers said today that MEPs will veto the EU budget if the Irish Presidency does not respect their democratic mandate.
Some of the statements from the Irish Presidency on the EU budget talks are intentionally or unintentionally misleading. There is no agreement yet with the MEPs and initial reactions from leading MEPs is certainly not positive. Two of the three main rapporteurs do not at all agree, with one of them even resigning in protest.
She said that the budgetary demands of the Parliament are “very reasonable”.
“In order to finance EU priorities for growth and job creation – including the fight against youth unemployment – we want more flexibility in the use of EU funds, a review after the 2014 European elections and an overhaul of the way the EU budget is financed,” explained Childers.
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