European Parliament
Laima Liucija Andrikienė  (PPE ),
in writing.
I voted in favour of the resolution on 2013 budget - mandate for trilogue. The Commission and the EU Council must ensure that inter-institutional cooperation is fruitful because, without a common starting base, it will not be possible to have a joint vision on the real needs. The European Parliament must lead the fight for payments because funds are needed for commitments made over the last years and no one can ignore that today, with a level of outstanding commitments amounting to EUR 207 billion, there are still many bills to be paid. In particular, the need for payments focuses on those sections that are more related to development and economic growth and this is why it is important to conduct this battle. It is important to stress that the EU budget for the year 2013 is the last one of the current financial framework. For this reason, an increase in the level of due payments at the end of the programming period is expected. That is why it will be even more important to avoid a dangerous shift of payments from 2012 to 2013.

