According to Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski, EU draft budget 2012 is a delicate balancing act combining austerity and growth boosting measures. Its main objective is to fully support the European economy and EU citizens.

The draft budget for next year represents € 132.7 billion in payments amounting to a 4.9% increase on 2011. Commitments amount to € 147.4 billion  (+3.7%). This increment is justified, according to the Commission, because institutions must honour their legal commitments. Any decrease below this figure would require member states and the European Parliament to break the legal commitments that have been made on existing contracts.

According to Lewandowski, this is a legitimate question. The main reason for the increment is that EU must pay the bills coming from projects from across Europe. Such projects that benefit local communities and businesses would probably never have been launched back in 2007 without the commitment of EU funding.

Besides, in drawing up next year's draft budget, the Commission endeavoured to identify programmes or initiatives that are not performing. The Development Cooperation Instrument has been reduced by €70.7 million as a result of its performance assessment.

In addition, the way forward towards economic growth and cohesion is through concerted efforts and investments. The Draft Budget foresees some € 57.7 billion to be paid in 2012 for sustainable growth to help Member States increase their investments in these areas whereas some € 62.6 billion is dedicated to the Europe 2020 priorities, an increase of 5.1% on the previous year.

Regarding the EU institutions, only 6% of the EU budget go to their functioning, therefore 94% of the annual budget goes back to Europe's regions and towns, business, scientists and citizens, with half of it being geared towards growth and employment.