SECTION IV. BALANCING THE BUDGET
Balancing the budget for this purpose shall be defined as finding a way to make the total revenue of the European Union greater than or equal to the total expenses and debt of the European Union.
a. Debt of the European Union includes any and all expenditures by the European Union that results in borrowed funds either from nations within the European Union or separate entities.
b. Total revenue of the European Union includes revenue generated from taxes, Eurozone bond sales, donations, and revenue generated from government programs.
The responsibility of balancing the budget is given to the Premier Commissioner and the governments of each member-state European Council by submitting a breakdown of their own contributions.
A budget shall be produced at the beginning of every fiscal year.
a. Each budget proposal must be declared a proposal or draft at the time of production contribution outline must be submitted before the 31st of January of every year.
b. The finalized budget must be submitted to the European Central Bank before the 31st of January of every year for distribution.
A budget must be approved by council vote before it can be implemented The final breakdown of the European Budget shall be properly arranged by the Premier Commissioner who shall review and submit it to the European Central Bank.
a. A supermajority will be required to approve of a budget.
5. The final budget shall be composed of budget shares for each active European agency and the following additional sectors:
a. Administration - in the form of the European institutions
b. Emergency response
c. Fund Assistance - funds that may be borrowed by each member-state as a loan
d. Debts Payment
e. Structural Maintenances - for the maintenance of architectural projects of the European Union
Colleagues, I found from my recent analysis that it would be better to let the member-states decide on where they want their budget contributions to go. And I do believe that giving the responsibility of balancing the European Budget to only a single person would be very stressful. Managing billions of euros is not a joke and this must be taken very seriously, the purpose of this amendment is to reduce the burden of the Premier Commissioner who is currently in charge of the European Budget and to also protect the interests of the member-states.
Friedrich van Allen
Councilor, Kingdom of Reitzmag
Debate starts NOW and will last until 02:45 GMT on July 14th, 2020.
I am very much against this whole thing.
Clause 2 is terrible. It is the responsibility of whoever makes the budget, to balance it. In this case, it's the economics commissioner, who is now the Premier Commissioner. Member states do not individually draft our budget. The sentence implies that the member states will be drafting the budget. Furthermore, we already know what the contributions of member states are, it's 0.1% of their total GDP. Now, I do think I know what you're trying to imply here, which is that member states should decide where their contributions go. However, not only has it not been correctly worded nor correctly placed as such in the amendment, but I disagree with the whole premise. All of the EU's institutions shall be funded, and all of them shall be funded by all the member states. We're not going into the territory of member states picking and choosing what to fund, because then we're jeopardizing all our institutions.
Clause 3 was literally fine as it was, but you've just made made it worse.
Clause 4 is an actual abomination. You want the Council to get no say on the budget? It's our job, as a legislature, to approve of the budget for all of our institutions. I don't see why we shouldn't be consulted on the matter, but apparently you want the Central Bank to give input on it. Imagine if countries allowed their central banks to run their budgets instead of their legislatures? Massive yikes. Your entire argument also makes no sense. You think a budget is too much of a burden for the Premier, but you still want the Premier to do it anyway, with the help of the Central Bank, instead of the Council? This is nonsensical.
Edward Firoux
Council Speaker and Councillor for Inquista
Mr. Speaker, I understand your criticisms and for sure I know how I would amend this act. And yes, here are my proposed amendments:
The responsibility of balancing the budget is given to the Premier Commissioner and the governments of each member-state European Council by submitting a breakdown of their own contributions.
A budget shall be produced at the beginning of every fiscal year.
a. Each budget proposal must be declared a proposal or draft at the time of production contribution outline must be submitted before the 31st of January of every year.
b. The finalized budget must be submitted to the European Central Bank before the 31st of January of every year for distribution.
4. A budget must be approved by council vote before it can be implemented The final breakdown of the European Budget shall be properly arranged by the Premier Commissioner who shall review and submit it to the European Central Bank.
a. A supermajority will be required to approve of a budget.
"I agree with Speaker Firoux on every single point he made.
I think there is a much bigger implication here, and that is very obviously Cllr. Van Allen in the never ending feud with Commissioner Juncker wants to ensure that if the Commissioner has a project that benefits all of Europe, then no Reitzmic money should go to it, or well very likely any ELDR member they could convince. All the while stuffing money into projects they prefer.
We can not subjugate the region to partisanship when it comes to the budget. The initial proposal would have had done just that. European Agencies would end up kissing up to member-state governments to get their money, there would be no accountability from the council just from the European Central Bank. The ECB is only there for monetary policy support, it is not intended for fiscal responsibilities those are two wholly different topics of governance.
Amending clause 3 is entirely dependent on a dysfunctional clause 2. Speaker Firoux put it best, "it was fine as is".
Clause 4 disregards the principles of the current EU constitution, and undermines the idea of the council being the supreme authority of the Union's policy direction. The Premier is able to draft a budget just fine with the help of their fellow commissioners, EU Councillors, and I'm sure an army of interns at their disposal. The premier is not just some office assistant who will just combine, "contributions" into one big spread sheet its far more complicated than that, but complicated does not mean its outside the realm of their abilities.
Clause 5 is pointless. I don't know what else to say beyond that.
But then Cllr. Van Allen you decide to toss out all your ideas for the sake of what? Amending the act just to amend the act? There's still no point to Clause 5, and I still have no idea why the budget must be submitted to a monetary policy agency. ""
Carita Falk
Archrepublic of Vayinaod
Ms. Falk, I have not much to say anymore. I have already proposed an amendment to this motion that I see would satisfy you. I hope you would carefully read it and understand its objectives.
Friedrich van Allen
Councilor, Kingdom of Reitzmag
So here we have the example on how Reitzmag tries to make the European Union worst. And if anyone wondered, I agree with Councillors Falk and Firoux on every single word, and I'm explaining why.
Firstly, the European Budget is supposed to be made by the Premier Commissioner, who is Eilidh Whiteford. We all here know that you, Cllr. van Allen, hate the European Progressive Alliance, hate that your friend Atty. Winston aka European Destroyer lost the Commission Elections that took place on May and June and you hate to take part in projects you don't like because Mr. Juncker or Ms. Whiteford or even Mr. Reynels were the ones that made the proposals. The removal of their competences will just make the Commission to have stupid functions. Mr. van Allen, tell me the truth: If Atty. Winston would be the Internal Affairs Commissioner, would you have submitted this amendment? I imagine that you will answer yes, but as Reitzmag's politics are always upside-down, the real answer will be no.
Councillor van Allen, do you consider youself as democratic? If you do, then Clause 4 is completely opposed to your principles. Cllr. Firoux had to tell you that you were not going to vote the budget and you come with an amendment to stop the sinking of your boat. I think that the Reitzmic boats sank some time ago, but dreaming is very useful. And Clause 5, Cllr. Falk told what I really think about it, no need to repeat the words.
Donald D. Tusk
Councillor for Spain
Debate has now ended. Voting on amendments has now begun and will last until 09:15 GMT on July 17th, 2020.
There is just one amendment, proposed by Cllr. Van Allen:
Amendment
2. The responsibility of balancing the budget is given to the Premier Commissioner and the governments of each member-state European Council by submitting a breakdown of their own contributions.
4. A budget must be approved by council vote before it can be implemented The final breakdown of the European Budget shall be properly arranged by the Premier Commissioner who shall review and submit it to the European Central Bank.
a. A supermajority will be required to approve of a budget.
I vote FOR the amendment.
Edward Firoux
Council Speaker and Councillor for Inquista
I vote FOR this amendment.
Friedrich van Allen
Councilor, Kingdom of Reitzmag
On behalf of the Kingdom of Spain, I vote FOR this amendment.
Donald D. Tusk
Councillor for Spain
I vote FOR this amendment.
Carita Falk
Cllr. for the Archrepublic of Vayinaod
I vote FOR this amendment.
Francis Plessis
EU Councilor for Leagio
On behalf of the Kingdom of Fremet, I vote FOR this amendment.
Charles Michel
Councillor for the Kingdom of Fremet
With 5 votes for, this amendment has PASSED. The legislation has been amended accordingly.
Final voting begins now and will last until 10:00 GMT on July 20th, 2020.
On behalf of the Most Blessed State of Inquista, I vote AGAINST this amendment to the European Budget Act.
Edward Firoux
Council Speaker and Councillor for Inquista
On behalf of the Kingdom of Reitzmag, I vote FOR this amendment.
Friedrich van Allen
Councilor, Kingdom of Reitzmag
On behalf of the Kingdom of Spain, I vote AGAINST this amendment.
Donald D. Tusk
Councillor for Spain
On behalf of the Archrepublic of Vayinaod, I vote AGAINST this amendment.
Carita Falk
Cllr. for the Archrepublic of Vayinaod
On behalf of the Kingdom of Fremet, I vote AGAINST this amendment.
Charles Michel
Councillor for the Kingdom of Fremet
On behalf of the Union of Duxburian Dominions, I vote AGAINST the amendment.
Wesley Greene
Councillor of the Duxburian Union
On behalf of the Commonwealth of Leagio, I vote AGAINST this amendment.
Francis Plessis
Councilor of the Commonwealth of Leagio
As I believe this proposal of mine has been bombarded by my colleagues, I request to withdraw this proposal at once.
Friedrich van Allen
Councilor, Kingdom of Reitzmag
Ms. Falk, I have not much to say anymore. I have already proposed an amendment to this motion that I see would satisfy you. I hope you would carefully read it and understand its objectives.
Friedrich van Allen
Councilor, Kingdom of Reitzmag
The Kingdom of Spain
