European Liberals and Democrats have reacted with surprise to the contradictory position of the Council relating to the EU Budget for 2013.
 
Jan Mulder (VVD, Netherlands) ALDE coordinator in the Parliamentary Committee says:

"Less than two weeks ago the Council presented an ambitious Growth Pact, with all Member States agreeing to to boost the financing of the economy by investing EUR 120 billion (equivalent to around 1% of EU GNI) for fast-acting growth measures, employment and competitiveness. But strangely enough, the Council's budget proposal drastically cuts spending on research and development, infrastructure and education. I strongly condemn this rather paradoxical position of the EU Member States."

Alexander Alvaro (FDP, Germany), spokesman of the ALDE 2013 budget says: "We are watching a de-Europeanisation of the Council in many areas. Parliament should send a clear signal and offer firm resistance to the position of the national governments. Proposing a reduction of nearly 2 billion in the field of competition is at odds with the European priorities for growth and jobs and at odds with the measured and appropriate approach taken by the European Parliament. The Council will have to provide clarity on exactly where they want to cut. "

The Liberals are not in favor of an increase in the budget for 2013, however the increase results simply from the fulfillment of commitments from the execution of projects in Member States.

Jan Mulder explains: "The EU is legally obliged to pay for the projects that have been carried out. In 2012, these payment obligations ballooned by close to 5% due to the concluding of more contracts: the so-called commitments. Also, 2012 marks the end of the current MFF long-term budget and because of the long-term nature of many projects, bills often only come in at the end of the period, leading to an increase in payments within the next Multiannual Financial Framework ". Jan Mulder is Parliament's rapporteur for RAL, the unpaid commitments (" reste à liquider ").

The Liberals and Democrats called for a status quo in commitment appropriations in 2013, as there are unused funds which exceed € 200 billion, which will further increase considerably in the future. The ever-widening gap between commitment and payment appropriations must urgently be addressed. It looks there is a first positive signal: both the Commission and the Council propose only a limited increase of the commitment appropriations for 2013, equating to a nominal decrease.

EU Member States and the European Parliament will have to jointly adopt the Budget 2013.The negotiations now starting between the two institutions are even more important given the parallel discussions on the multiannual financial framework, the long-term budget for 2014-2020, worth a proposed 970 billion euros.