Does proposed 2013 EU budget add up?

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso during a news conference on the European Draft Budget 2013 at the EU commission headquarters in Brussels, 25.04.2012. Photo: PAP/EPA/Olivier Hoslet

President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso said, Wednesday, that the extra cash is needed to settle unpaid bills, as the 2013 budget is the last in the EU’s seven-year funding framework ahead of the next 2014-2020 cycle.

The 2013 draft budget shows 'responsibility and solidarity", Barroso claims, adding that “[…] it is a budget for investment and cohesion.”

“It is above all a budget that respects legal obligation,” the EC chief continued, adding that, “member states and private beneficiaries are now submitting the bulk of their bills to us and the European Union has to pay these bills.”

“There is no way around it,” Barroso said.

Plans to increase expenditure are sure to raise protest among net payers, such as Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, and Austria, who are in favour of slashing costs amid an ongoing austerity drive across the bloc.

The key item in negotiations for Poland is the so-called 'cohesion policy', aimed at diminishing the gap between better off and poorer regions, which older, richer member states want to reduce funding for.

Poland, the largest recipient of the cohesion funds among new member states, is determined to keep payments at current levels.

Divergent views among member states could spell tough budget negotiations, to be finalised by the end of the year, under the Cypriot presidency of the Council of the European Union which takes over from Denmark on 1 July. (aba/jb/pg)