Tag: Barroso

  • Turkey absent in new EU budget

    Turkey absent in new EU budget

    The proposed European Union budget for 2014-2020 calls for imposing new taxes on citizens and companies, marking a period of fiscal tightening. The draft budget, unveiled on Wednesday by Jose Manuel Barroso, makes no mention of Turkey, meaning that Ankara will have to wait until ‘at least’ 2020 to enter the EU

    European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. AFP photo
    European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. AFP photo

    European policy makers have proposed a tightening of belts across the European Union as part of a new 2014-2020 budget that seeks to respond to gaping public debts ravaging the southern flank of the bloc. The new budget, however, makes no mention of Turkey, implying that the EU-aspirant country will not be accepted until “at least” 2020.

    The EU budget proposed Wednesday by the European Commission urges the introduction of an EU-wide sales tax and a new financial services tax. The budget proposal, unveiled in Brussels, spans the 2014-2020 period and totals 1.025 billion euros.

    But as the Hürriyet Daily News first reported April 20, the proposed budget does not include Turkey.

    The EU began membership talks with Turkey in 2004, but has avoided providing a specific target date, something it has offered to other candidates that later joined the 27-nation bloc. The EU ruled in 2004 that while the objective of negotiations is accession, such talks are an open-ended process and the outcome of this process “cannot be guaranteed.”

    Speaking in Brussels on Wednesday, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso defended the draft budget. The EU needs “an innovative budget” where “every euro spent reaches its target,” Barroso said.

    Under the draft, the monies raised directly through new measures such as an EU value-added tax, or VAT, and a financial transactions tax worth 30 billion euros per year would bring in more than 40 percent of EU revenue. Contributions from member states, which currently account for 76 percent of total revenue, would drop to around one third, Agence France-Presse reported.

    The remainder is funded through customs tariffs at the EU borders, a portion of VAT gathered by member states, and taxes paid by EU civil servants.

    The new VAT would be levied across the 27-nation bloc, with a fixed 1 percentage point raised by governments and transferred directly to the EU from 2014.

    The commission is also proposing to allocate 376 billion euros for the 2014-2020 period for spending on “cohesion policy instruments,” which aim to create a more harmonious union. This amount includes 162.6 billion euros for convergence regions, 38.9 billion euros for transition regions, 53.1 billion euros for competitiveness regions, 11.7 billion euros for territorial cooperation and 68.7 billion euros for the Cohesion Fund. None of these include Turkey or its regions. However, Greece and Greek Cyprus, as EU members, will be able to benefit from the Cohesion Fund.

    Tobin-style tax

    To top up the EU executive’s ability to levy resources, the commission suggested a Tobin-style tax on financial transactions in Europe. However, this suggestion is likely to be opposed by Britain, France and Germany, which favor an international tax rather than a European one.

    Debate over the budget is likely to continue until 2012, with the European Parliament also likely to step in with its opinion on spending.

    Compared to the current 2007-2013 budget, Brussels is suggesting a 5 percent hike in volume.

    On Thursday, Germany blasted the proposal as “irresponsibly high,” saying it set a poor example during the eurozone debt crisis.

    “The commission’s total volume of the budgetary framework is, for the German government, irresponsibly high,” Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in a statement.

    via Turkey absent in new EU budget – Hurriyet Daily News.

  • Barroso says Turkey not burden for EU

    Barroso says Turkey not burden for EU

    President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso has dismissed claims that Turkey would be a burden for the European Union at a time when the 27-nation bloc’s membership talks with the candidate country are in standstill.

     

    Barroso said, in contrast, Turkey would bring in a significant added value to the bloc during his speech at the European Business Summit on Wednesday, adding that the European Commission extended full support to Turkey’s membership to the EU.

    Barroso recalled the fact that several European Union member states are not ready to accept Turkey as a full member at this point and said he was aware of Turkey’s disappointment with it.

    Recent polls have shown that Turkish public has less incentive to embrace the EU membership than before and anti-EU sentiment among Turkish officials are increasingly growing. Despite sweeping reforms including constitutional amendments last year, the EU has criticized Turkey for lack of press freedom and reluctance in solving Turkey’s decades-old Kurdish problem.

    The president said the EU has a democratic structure and that it has to take opinion of all its members in account.

    “I believe that Turkish economy will bring in an added value to the European Union. Turkey will not be a burden to the union, on the contrary, it will bring in significant added value with its young population and current dynamism,” Barroso added.

    European Commissioner for Enlargement Stefan Füle told at a session on Turkey-European Union relations that annual trade volume between the EU and Turkey exceeded 100 billion euro, and that Turkey received two-third of its direct foreign investments from the European Union member states.

    “All these have proved that Turkey has become a country making key contributions to the European Union’s global competition power,” he said.

    He added that all European Union consulates in Turkey were expected to apply a simplified and harmonized visa regime as of July.

    via Barroso says Turkey not burden for EU.

  • Turkish PM Meets European Commission’s President

    Turkish PM Meets European Commission’s President

    Turkey’s prime minister had a meeting with the president of the European Commission (EC) in Seoul, South Korea on Thursday.

    barroso erdogan

    Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan and EC President Jose Manuel Barroso are in the South Korean capital for a G-20 summit.

    Erdogan was also expected to meet United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday, however the meeting was postponed to Friday.

    G20 summit will discuss international economic developments; measures to be taken for a strong, sustainable, and globally balanced growth; global economy; reform of international financial institutions; financial reforms; global financial security networks; as well as several other issues such as development, climate change, energy and fight against corruption.

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    Photo: Cihan