President Barroso welcomes creation of new group to study EU's own resources
President Barroso has welcomed the creation of a new inter-institutional group that will look into new ways to finance the EU budget.
President Barroso has welcomed the creation of a new inter-institutional group that will look into new ways to finance the EU budget.
The High level Group on own resources was formally established in Strasbourg on 25 February by President Barroso, European Parliament President Martin Schulz and Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras (representing the Council).
It will be chaired by former Italian Prime minister and EU Commissioner Mario Monti, with other members appointed by the three EU institutions.
"This is our joint aim with this group: to make revenue collection more simple, fairer, transparent and democratically accountable," President Barroso said.
"The Commission's proposals for the 2014-20 budget already included new and simpler ways of financing the EU's important work, including a financial transaction tax and a more modern VAT-based resource. We also suggested how to simplify the complicated rebate mechanisms for a number of Member States," he said. "I believe there is scope to further explore these ideas, and others, within the group's mandate."
The Group was set up on the back of an agreement last year between the institutions during the negotiations on the EU's multiannual financial framework (MFF 2014-20) and will issue a first assessment at the end of 2014. National parliaments will assess the outcome of the group's work in 2016, and the conclusions drawn from that assessment will determine whether the Commission will make a proposal to improve the own resources system.
Read President Barroso's full speech at the launch of the group