Ivailo Kalfin, an MEP from the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats was elected to represent the European Parliament in the new high-level group on EU “own resources”. This is an acknowledgement of his professionalism and of the prestige he holds within his parliamentary group. Kalfin’s participation in the “group of wise men” affords an opportunity for a Bulgarian contribution in an extremely difficult mission of paramount importance – the reformation of the EU budget. The high level group will be headed by former European commissioner and ex-Prime Minister of Italy Mario Monti and will include three representatives of three leading European institutions: the Commission, the Council and the Parliament. Besides Ivailo Kalfin, the European Parliament is also represented by Guy Verhofstadt, head of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and former Prime Minister of Belgium, as well as Alain Lamassoure, from the European People's Party, chair of the European Parliament's Budget Committee. The Commission will be represented by three commissioners: Maroš Šefčovič, Janusz Lewandowski and Algirdas Šemeta. From the Council of the European Union there are three former finance ministers. The aim of the group is to look into the ways the EU budget is financed and propose improvements making the system more honest, more transparent and with better democratic accountability.

“The idea was that with the European budget, unlike the national budgets the expenditures are allocated upon its adoption,” says Ivailo Kalfin. “The revenues are set down by the member countries. So, instead of European priorities and policies, the national parliaments focus on the installment that has to be paid. Moreover, over the years a number of exceptions from the general rule have accumulated and no one is able to give any sensible explanation as to which factors actually determine the national installments. The first thing that has to be dropped are the so-called concessions in the European budget. The fact that Great Britain is not paying its installment in full means that all other countries, including Bulgaria cover the difference. There are concessions for Germany, Sweden, and in the latest budget for Denmark. What we need is for a large portion of the revenues in the European budget to go to it directly, without passing through the national budgets. Whether they will be part of the VAT, whether it will be the tax on financial transactions 11 countries have already committed themselves to introducing or whether it might take another financial form, the important thing is to avoid making two steps. This will mean going back to the debates on the political priorities and added value of Europe,” comments Ivailo Kalfin, who was the European Parliament’s rapporteur on the long term EU budget for 2014-2020. These ideas will be beneficial for Bulgaria as well.

“Bulgaria is a country that receives much more than it pays into the European budget,” Ivailo Kalfin goes on to say. “Around four percent of the economy comes from European funding. So it is in Bulgaria’s interest that the European budget is financed more from its own resources than from payments from the national budgets, so as to restrict the influence of the governments of the donor-countries which want to curtail expenditures. The autonomy of the budget for countries like Bulgaria means security, predictability and an opportunity to discuss policies which the EU can help the country with.”

The so-called Monti group is expected to come out with its first conclusions at the end of 2014. In 2016 it must propose changes which can then be consulted with the national parliaments of the member-countries before becoming European legislation. The idea is to put forward several different scenarios and attract attention and the involvement of the national parliaments and governments for altering the current system. The “European wise men” face a difficult task if they want to put forward realistic and practicable reforms. At times the member countries uphold opinions on issues connected with the EU’s own resources, that are diametrically opposed. Many of them are afraid of losing their sovereignty if the Union’s own resources increase making it more financially independent of the member countries. What is hope-inspiring is that the participants in the group of wise men have been through many battles and won them, proving that they are capable of finding a consensus between different political parties, member countries and leading European institutions.

English version: Milena Daynova