More flexibility within the Common Agriculture Policy and more money to less developed regions instead of a larger budget is what European Council President Charles Michel will offer sceptical countries to agree on a new EU 7-year spending plan.
In order to accommodate the departure of the UK, demands to keep traditional EU policies properly funded, new policy priorities and net payers opposing an increase of the budget, Michel will try to make use of flexibility to find a compromise.
The 2018 European Commission proposed a budget worth 1.11% of EU’s GNI, the European Parliament asked for 1.3% and the net contributors are not willing to go beyond 1%.
Michel proposed on Friday (14 February) to set national contributions at 1.074% of GNI aiming to “strike a balanced proposal,” EU official said during a briefing on Friday following weeks of consultations with EU leaders and Parliament representatives.
“We are not expecting member states to be happy,” EU sources admitted but they would test the mood of leaders at the summit to assess whether a compromise is possible.
The European Council president put the EU’s expenditure ceiling at €1,094 billion, an increase compared to the proposal by Finland’s EU presidency that happens to correspond to the €7.5 billion of ‘fresh money’ the European Commission proposed for the Just Transition Fund, and which Michel includes in his text.
Flexibility and transfers
EU officials warned that cuts on Cohesion and Common Agricultural Policy were inevitable.
The correction in Michel’s negotiating box is lower compared to the Finnish presidency proposal, but significant compared to the existing budget, with a cut around 12% to Cohesion and a 14% to CAP.
The key in the new budget is the distribution. The less developed regions (with a GDP per capita less than 75% of the average GDP of the Union) would see their funding increased, while the more developed regions (with GDP per capita above 100% of the average) would lose €7 billion.
Regarding the Common Agricultural Policy, EU officials said member states did not only ask for the farming grants to be protected but for more flexibility in the transfer between the two pillars, hence Michel’s proposal to put them under the same programming instrument to allow for further transfers.
In a bid to assuage the concerns of some member states, Michel would like to see up to 40% of the CAP expenditure dedicated to climate action.
Contentious issues
Michel’s proposal confirms the inclusion of a rule of law conditionality, “to tackle instances of deficiencies which affect or risk affecting the sound implementation of the EU budget or the financial interests of the Union in a sufficiently direct way.”
It would be up to the Commission to propose measures and for the Council to approve them by a qualified majority, but this process will be independent to other mechanisms foreseen in the EU treaties. [...]
Full article on EurActiv
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