For the first time the Parliament and Council have equal footing on deciding Europe’s budget. Will it lead to a collision course?

Interview: Sidonia Jędrzejewska – Budget Committee

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/15257069/n003-0086-en.srt

Sidonia Jędrzejewska,  welcome to EuroparlTV.

You are in charge of Parliament's position  for the budget of next year,

Your committee, the Budgets Committee,  has just voted its position.

Of course, this is the first time  that the Parliament has real power

and is on an equal footing  with the Council on the budget.

But are they also on a collision course?

Yes, we have completed our vote  as the Committee on Budgets.

It was a marathon of voting. We voted  over 1,500 budgetary amendments

We've completed the vote  on our resolution

which focuses on the most important  political issues in our vote.

The biggest challenge  is that, over the years,

the ambitions and areas of action  of the European Union

Practically, it means that  the Member States

are less and less willing  to contribute to the EU budget.

Everyone is under the pressure  of austerity.

and to be very careful with all  public spending. That's understandable.

We believe the EU budget  is a tool for investment.

It is an anti-crisis measure.  It is worth investing in common Europe.

Every euro in the EU budget gives  a profit for today and for the future.

But there are a lot of different things  that you can invest in

and, again, there seem to be  differences of opinion

as to what the Council wants to invest in  and what you want to invest in.

You have set clear priorities as to  what is worth investing in and what isn't.

What isn't worth investing in, for example,  is the nuclear fusion reactor in France.

The Council wanted to put more  EU money in that and you said no.

ITER is a programme  which is very, very costly,

Its purpose is known,  but its future is still a mystery to us.

It seems to be a programme where  the costs were heavily underestimated.

and we, as MEPs, can't see an end  to the financing of ITER.

We're worried that ITER  is reducing opportunities

for other priorities  of the European Parliament.

In March this year the European  Parliament managed to set its priorities

linked to what I call a triangle  of youth, mobility and education.

I believe these are the areas where  there is truly European added value,

where it makes sense to work together  at European level,

We are ready to argue with the Council  in favour of our priorities.

We'll see how the Council  can justify its cuts.

It's not about being in favour of  or against the cuts.

For us, it's important to understand  the Council's reasoning.

Does Council understand  the consequences of its savings policy?

as to why the Council  is limiting some policies

and why those limits  are at this or that level.

We need to know  before we say OK to any of them.

Briefly and finally,  you had the vote in Committee

but a couple of days ago it looked as if  there were rifts within Parliament

with the leaders of the political groups

seeming to take over your role  of deciding where to go with the budget.

The Budgets Committee and MEPs  involved in budgetary procedure

I think that we in the Budgets Committee  are more focused on finding solutions

than getting media attention and  creating conflicts that generate publicity

but little income,  little outcome and little input.

for the Budgets Committee  and the Conference of Presidents.

I think we are now very close  in our opinions.

I don't think we ever differed too much.

It's just a matter of  how we present our priorities.

Do we want to have noise  or real influence over things?

with the Conference of Presidents  and the Budgets Committee

and everyone knows  what his and her job is.

Sidonia Jędrzejewska,  thank you very much.