EU Parliament grits teeth to fill 2.7bn finance gap

The European Parliament late on Tuesday answered a distress call to fill a 2.7-billion-euro ($3.7billion) funding gap which led the European Commission to pull the plug on new contracts. MEPs from the Parliament's budget committee gave their blessing to increased contributions from European Union member states to make up the shortfall, though the top-ups are likely to affect controversial future bloc budgets. The emergency finance is needed because revenue from import duties fell below EU forecasts. Lawmakers complained to EU Budget Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski that Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso only informed the Parliament it was "on the brink of a shutdown". Lewandowski told the house that even with the additional 2.7 billion euros there would still be a shortage in overall 2013 figures. EU treaties prevent bloc spending from exceeding prescribed limits. MEPs are to vote Wednesday on next year's EU budget, but discussions on a hugely contentious financial framework for the bloc from 2014 to 2020 have been put back.