The Alternate Minister of Finance, Christos Staikouras, within the framework of the Greek Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU), presented yesterday, in a trilogue with the European Commission and the European Parliament, the guidelines for the EU Budget 2015.

In his speech, he underlined, inter alia, that the second EU Budget for the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2014-2020 should be initiated in a balanced manner between fiscal discipline and policies emphasizing the strengthening of growth, competitiveness and employment, mainly for the young people, as well as the implementation of structural reforms.

Additionally, he stressed out the need to rationalize spending within the collective bodies of the EU and to adopt realistic targets for the EU Budget 2015, so as to avoid the submission of corrective-supplementary Budgets.

Also, during the meeting, the amendment time schedule of EU Budget 2014, in order to strengthen the European Investment Fund in a fiscally neutral manner, as well as the EU financial assistance to Ukraine were discussed.

Moreover, yesterday night, the Alternate Minister of Finance attended the session of the European Parliament regarding the discussion on the Discharge of the European Commission for the implementation of the EU budget for 2012.  

In his speech, as acting President of the European Council, he praised the work of the European Court of Auditors, however he expressed his concerns with regard to the findings of the relevant Report and pointed out the need for further improvement in management and audit systems, process simplification and enhancement of the financial corrections procedure so as to achieve increased effectiveness and efficiency in the management of funds contributed by European taxpayers.