BRATISLAVA, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- Countries still lagging behind the European Union (EU) average should not bear a disproportionate share of the financial burden of funding new priorities under the bloc's next long-term budget, nor should they be deprived of investments needed to narrow development gaps, Slovak House Chair Richard Rasi said Friday.
Rasi made the remarks following a summit of parliamentary leaders from the EU's 17-member Friends of Cohesion group, held in Bratislava, where participants agreed on a common position on the bloc's next multiannual financial framework.
He said that the debate should focus not only on the size of national allocations but also on ensuring that EU funding is directed toward programs that deliver tangible benefits to individual member states.
The 17 countries in the Friends of Cohesion group account for more than half of the EU's population and nearly 40 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP), Rasi noted.
He said national parliaments were prepared to discuss contributing new resources to the EU budget, provided that the funding arrangements were fair and did not place an excessive burden on their countries.
Lorenzo Fontana, president of Italy's Chamber of Deputies, echoed Rasi's position. The EU must take into account the complex international context, so this isn't the right time to cut back on regional development, he said.
The Bratislava summit builds on cooperation among Friends of Cohesion countries, which includes Italy, Spain, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal, Romania and Slovenia, in addition to the Visegrad Group countries of Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary.
