The European Commission is bankrupt. If the European bureaucrats will not be able to find a €2.7 billion injection, the institution will halt its payments by the middle of November. Two days ago, EC president Jose Manuel Barroso made a desperate plea for extra cash to keep the institution afloat, while European Parliament President Martin Schulz blamed the member states for the money shortage. The EC debt crisis hits the institution the moment its president appeals to Germany not to relax the austerity imposed to debt-ridden member states.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has made a desperate plea for extra cash to keep the institution afloat.
Opening the European Parliament’s plenary session in Strasbourg on 21 October, parliament president, Martin Schulz, said that he had been contacted by Barroso with a request for an extra €2.7 billion in a supplementary budget for 2013 in order for the commission to meet its financial obligations.
If not, it will run out of money “by mid-November.”
Schulz told MEPs that the problem was down to “a shortfall in customs duties.” he said he was taking the situation “seriously.” He blamed member states for the situation.
This comes as European leaders prepare to gather for a summit in Brussels on 24 October, designed to make headway in tackling youth unemployment and promoting competitiveness.
Schulz suggested the European Council a draft supplementary budget, for checking and approval by the parliament’s budgets committee on the evening of 22 October. He then said the parliament would vote on the proposal.
MEPs had previously asked for a supplementary budget of their own, worth €3.9 billion, that has not yet been given the green light by the council, which may make any possible vote tricky.
There have been suggestions that instead of approving the commission’s budget demands, a range of supplementary options could be put forward for approval. (neurope.eu)
“A range of supplementary options” like austerity and cuts in expenditure? Like cutting salaries and benefits and bonuses and the generous extras? No, I don’t hear that…. But when Barroso asked Germany to stick with the strict austerity he had something else in mind and not austerity in what hi consider to be his private enterprise.