(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) Ussels june 12 (qna) - eu spending should increase by about 5% next year the european commission said wednesday setting the stage for a new budget battle in the bloc.
its governments and parliament have repeatedly sparred over the european union's budgets with member states typically seeking to limit expenditures while the legislature has advocated for growth-boosting spending according to the (dpa) news agency.
the commission envisions the bloc spending 142.1 billion euros (192.2 billion dollars) in 2015 up from the 135.5 billion euros approved for this year.
in describing the increase the commission spoke of a year-on-year increase of only 1.4% using its 2014 proposal figure as a base and not the amount finally agreed.
the eu's executive said that the "lion's share" of spending will go into efforts to boost growth and jobs while increases are also proposed for migration health and consumer protection spending.
administration costs will remain at around 4.8% of the budget with a 1% reduction in eu staff numbers foreseen the commission said.
most eu money typically flows back into the bloc's 28 countries for everything from agricultural subsidies and support for poorer regions to research and education programmes.
the commission's draft budget also "manages to take into account present and future major issues such as the ukrainian crisis or the need to strengthen the eu's energy security by refocusing its scarce resources" eu budget commissioner janusz lewandowski said.
the bloc has however been struggling for some time with unpaid bills getting rolled over from one year into the next. lewandowski predicted that this could amount to another 23 billion euros by the end of this year.
the commissioner put the blame squarely on the bloc's governments saying that some "don't take into account that the political promises of the eu have financial consequences." the governments and the european parliament will now have to spell out their positions on the 2015 budget and then work on finding a compromise. (qna)
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