It comes after Parliament was accused by Slovakia, current holder of the EU Council presidency, of “not facing reality” by insisting on a bigger budget than the one proposed by member states.
Ivan Lesay, Slovak state secretary for finance, said, “We have to face reality: the 2016 EU budget is way in excess of actual needs. We must learn from this and align the 2017 EU budget as closely as possible to the most realistic forecasts for expenditure next year."
Lesay was speaking after a trilogue meeting in Brussels with representatives of the Parliament and Commission on Wednesday.
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Parliament as a whole will vote at its plenary in Strasbourg next Wednesday on a proposed 2017 budget amounting to €161.8bn in "commitments" - €4.13bn more than the original Commission proposal which is backed by member states.
Lesay opposes this and sought to defend member states’ stance by saying, “The lower than expected needs in 2016 are mainly due to the fact that some of the programmes of the 2014-2020 period are not yet fully up and running.
"This concerns in particular the area of economic, social and territorial cohesion, where the programmes are unlikely to reach cruising speed even in 2017.
“That is why in its draft 2017 EU budget the Commission estimated the payment needs for this policy area to be more than 23 per cent lower than in the 2016 EU budget as adopted."
He said that even after bringing this year's budget into line with actual needs, the amounts proposed by the Commission for 2017 are still more than 10 per cent lower than in 2016.
The official said the presidency was “concerned” that the amendments currently being discussed by Parliament “go completely in the opposite direction.”
He said, “Parliament is considering to increase payments and commitments for almost all policy areas way beyond the expenditure ceilings of the EU's multiannual financial framework (MFF). This neither reflects current needs nor respects the MFF agreement.”
The Slovak presidency, he said, was now calling on MEPs to “direct available resources” towards what he says are the EU's current two top priorities: the migration crisis and reviving the economy.
He also wants the EU institutions to use EU taxpayers' money “in the most responsible way”, which includes reducing their staff by five per cent by 2017.
His remarks come after MEPs last week pledged to reverse "all the cuts" proposed by member states to the draft 2017 EU budget.
The additional funding supported by the budgets committee amounts to €1.24bn above the draft budget proposed by member states.
The plenary vote next week will kick off three weeks of what threaten to be heated “conciliation” talks with the Council. The aim is to reach a deal between the two institutions in time for next year's budget to be voted by Parliament and signed off in December.
However, German Socialist MEP Jens Geier defended Parliament’s position, saying, “Europe should be big on big issues. Consequently, we have reinforced the budget lines to support jobs and growth and reversed the cuts made by member states, who acted against their own priorities.”