Europe needs all of us to build its future.

EUROPEAN BUDGET: IMPOSSIBLE OR NECESSARY?
BREAKING THE TABOO

Breaking the taboo

The purpose of this conference was to break a taboo: holding a political debate on the European budget has become a matter of urgency, and yet the debate has still not been launched.

The economic crisis has had a massive impact on European budget resources, which have fallen in proportion to the decline in activity. At the same time, the Lisbon Treaty has provided for new competencies in several areas, and securing a sustainable economic recovery calls for new Community responsibilities. Hence the European Parliament has sent a message to the Council: the review of current financial perspectives cannot be put off any longer, as it is necessary for settling next budgets. Neither can the political debate be postponed with a view to identifying positive synergies between the Community budget and national budgets.

Current events bear this out. A temporary solution has been found to finance the Greek debt, and this first act of solidarity satisfies the interests of all the Euro zone members. However, we all know that a real system of solidarity must be established. Therefore, the European Council has commissioned a task force – led by President Van Rompuy – to draw up a set of proposals for the end of the year aimed at “strengthening the economic government of the European Union”. We are delighted about this. Of course, the task force will be focusing on the Stability and Growth Pact, but it would be unthinkable not to discuss the European budget at the same time. Therefore our conference had a dual purpose: to back the EP’s request for a review of financial perspectives and to discuss the budget in the context of reinforced economic governance.

Programme EEE 9 June 2010

DRAFT PROGRAMME

1:30 pm - 1:45 pm
Introduction: Philippe Herzog, Founding President of Confrontations Europe
Presentation: Carole Ulmer, Coordinator of the MEPs’ club and Project Leader, Confrontations Europe

Philippe HERZOG

Carole ULMER

1:45 pm – 3:30 pm : ROUND TABLE 1: “TIGHTENING NATIONAL BUDGETS WITHOUT EU BUDGET SUPPORT?”

Chairperson: Daniela Schwarzer, Head of the Research Division, SWP, Berlin
Participants:
- Iain Begg, Professor, European Institute, London School of Economics
- Göran Färm, Member of the Budget Committee of the European Parliament
- Henrik Enderlein, Director, Hertie School of Governance
- Rodi Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou, Member of the European Parliament, Vice-President of the European Parliament and member of the ECON Committee
- Alain Turc, Senior Adviser, Confrontations Europe

Daniela SCHWARZER	Iain BEGG	Göran FÄRM
Henrik ENDERLEIN	Rodi KRATSA-TSAGAROPOULOU	Alain TURC
		Slides Alain TURC

4:00 pm – 5:45 pm : ROUND TABLE 2: “PROSPECTS FOR THE COMMUNITY BUDGET AND MEMBER STATE/EU DIALOGUE”

Chairperson: Alain Lamassoure, Member of the European Parliament, Chairman of the Budget Committee France
Participants: Avec la participation de :
- Jean-Claude Banon, BusinessEurope representative
- Jacques Le Cacheux, Professor at the University of Pau and Pays de l’Adour, Head of the Research Department at the French Economic Policy Institute (OFCE), France
- Daniel Garrigue, Member of the Budget Committee of the French National Assembly
- Stefano Micossi, economist, Professor at the College of Europe, Director of Assonime
- Dariusz Rosati, Member of the European Parliament, Poland
- Andreas Schwab, Member of the European Parliament, Germany

Alain LAMASSOURE	Jean-Claude BANON	Jacques LE CACHEUX
Daniel GARRIGUE		Slides Jacques LE CACHEUX
Stefano MICOSSI	Dariusz ROSATI	Andreas SCHWAB

6:00 pm – 6:45 pm : RESPONSE FROM SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC EXPERTS AND FROM THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, AND CONCLUSIONS

- Claude Fischer, President of Confrontations Europe
- Hervé Jouanjean, Director-General for Budget at the European Commission
- Philippe Herzog, Founding President of Confrontations Europe
- Alain Lamassoure, Member of the European Parliament, Chairman of the Budget Committee, France

Claude FISCHER	Hervé JOUANJEAN
Philippe HERZOG	Alain LAMASSOURE

Mentions of our conference

Euractiv.com, on 10 June 2010 : Experts seek to lift taboo on European budget
While EU finance ministers squabble over European Commission demands that national governments must send their budgets to the EU executive for review before they are sent to national parliaments, MEPs and experts have drawn up strategic proposals to create the momentum for a political debate on the EU budget.

It is unthinkable not to discuss the European budget at a time when the European Council has commissioned a taskforce led by President Herman Van Rompuy to come up with a plan to strengthen economic governance in Europe, said Philippe Herzog, founding chairman of Paris-based think-tank Confrontations Europe, which hosted an event on the issue
Read more

En français
For more information, please contact :
Carole ULMER : Tel : +33 1 43 17 32 90 / This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.