The approval last week of the EU 2014-2020 budget by the European Council with a cut of 3% is a clear setback and goes in the opposite direction of what the European societies need in order to solve the crisis.

With a ceiling of 960.000 billions of Euros, less than 1% of the European Growth Product and also 33.000 billion less than the previous period, it is the first time that there is a cut in the European Strategic Budget.

There are cuts in growth policy of 24%, of 4% in Cohesion policy, 4% in Agricultural Common Policy, 20% in Cooperation Policy. The issue of youth employment is limited to a 6 billions Euros item for countries where the unemployment of young people exceeds the rate of 25%.

The worst purposes of the United Kingdom with David Cameron and Germany with Angela Merkel, both conservative and inspired by neoliberal fundamentalism made egoism victorious.

What the European societies need urgently is a completely different economical model based on job creation and on satisfying the huge social needs. Members of European parliament should reject this austerity budget.

Party of the European Left
Brussels, February 13, 2013