Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The opening paragraph of the 47 page document agreed at the European Council on the EU budget states, "We must ensure the European Union's budget is geared to lifting Europe out of the crisis". With 26 million people out of work, how can a fall in the European Union budget, as a percentage of gross European national income, from 0.98% to 0.95%, actually represent an attempt to lift Europe out of the crisis? Is it not the case that the first reduction in the European Union budget is the completely wrong response to the unprecedented economic crisis in which Europe has found itself since the late 1920s? It beggars belief that there will be a reduction in the budget when the only opportunity to have a pan-European stimulus was through the EU budget. Will the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade address this fundamental issue of the European Union budget becoming a tiny and a falling percentage of the value of the wider European economy? Will he confirm that the agreed budget represents a 10% decline in the Common Agricultural Policy budget, or a reduction of €4 billion per annum? Will he confirm that there will be a restructuring of payments under the CAP? When will we see details of this? Does he accept that the youth guarantee cannot be achieved within the figure of €6 billion allocated to it, given the enormity of the youth unemployment problem across the Union? As has been said, €3 billion of this amount will come from the Social Fund.

An additional limit has been placed on the total payments as opposed to commitments. That is a crucial issue such that the British Prime Minister, Mr. David Cameron, moved might and main to have additional limits on payments that could actually be made as opposed to commitments. It removes a vital area of flexibility and the destructive agenda of the Tory Party gained much ground in the budget negotiations. What engagement did the Government have with the British Prime Minister in pointing out to him that his agenda which seems to be fuelled by electoral considerations in Britain is having a genuinely damaging impact on Europe and Irish citizens?

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