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The 2014–2020 EU budget, stuck this spring due to resistance by European parliament, got its official OK yesterday.
Editorial: Europe approves budget to Estonia’s satisfaction
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For us, an important budget line indeed is the Connecting Europe Facility, from whence cometh money for projects too hard for member states. This is the European solidarity, the reason EU exists. In the European Union, Finland and the Baltics are like islands; to overcome the isolation, energy and transport connections are badly needed. This spells Rail Baltica; and now that the money is there, political cooperation is what it takes to get the ambitious project going.
Debates in European parliament were preceded by heated arguments among officials, then governmental leaders; in the midst of it all, Estonia was one of the lucky few managing to even improve its position. As confided to Estonian reporters by European parliament budget committee head Alain Lamassoure: behind the closed doors, it is strength that talks. We conclude: Estonian officials and politicians must have mastered the art, somehow, of getting their way in the corridors of Brussels.
Nothing much altered by the parliament in the overall numbers, still certain mechanisms were put in place to hopefully alleviate fate of crisis states; also, it is planned to tidy up EU income system – by now exceedingly complex.
The member states still battling crisis and high unemployment may be relieved to know that, should they violate macroeconomic criteria, sanctions will be limited. Understandably, such stuff comes from political compromises; even so, irresponsible budget policies should not be encouraged. Weakness of member states still comes from bad behaviour, over years or even decades. Here again, we must underline the importance of structural reforms – which, essentially, are nothing but making state rules conform to reality. The net contributors’ criticism means that budget responsibility and the keeping of promises will be carefully monitored.
The idea to tidy up EU income system is an interesting one. Truly: considering all of the exceptions, sources and dependencies involved, this might be called recreating the entire system. The time allotted for that – seven years – isn’t too much, actually. The proposals buzzing in EU lobbies are still somewhat raw; doubtless, they all come with domestic-political price tags. Negotiation inside and between member states will not be the easy kind.