Brussels, 12/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - During the afternoon of Tuesday 13 November, a new version of the “negotiating box” on the EU's 2012-2020 multiannual financial framework (MFF) will be presented with a view to commencing the final home strait on the negotiations of this prickly file. The document could already be considered as a draft European Council conclusions document on the next financial framework. Before this, during the morning, the presidents of Cyprus - Demetris Christofias, the European Council - Herman Van Rompuy, the European Parliament - Martin Schulz, and the European Commission - José Manuel Barroso, will meet to discuss the MFF and speak about the need to have an agreement on the file by the end of the year, and if possible during the extraordinary European Council on 22-23 November.
However, this seems unlikely as the divergences are great. The current document from the Cypriot Presidency, providing for €50 billion of savings in relation to the initial proposal, has been criticised by the European Parliament and many other countries (see EUROPE 10723) - including Poland, Spain, Belgium, Ireland, Greece, Romania, the Baltic States and Hungary which, during COREPER on 31 October, considered that the proposed cuts were too great - especially for cohesion policy. The net contributors to the EU budget (including Germany, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden) considered, on the other hand, that the reductions were not great enough. Some countries (Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Ireland) deplored the cuts in heading 1a “competitiveness”, while others (France, Spain, Hungary and Romania) were opposed to the decrease in the common agricultural policy (CAP) envelope.
Few preparatory meetings remain before the European Council on 22-23 November. The new version of the negotiating box will be discussed at COREPER on Thursday 15 November. A dinner for the European ministers in charge of general affairs is due to be held in the evening of 19 November before the informal meeting of the General Affairs Council the following day. Van Rompuy is due to participate in this in order to present the draft conclusions. A new revised conclusions draft is due to be submitted on 21 November before the summit. (LC/transl.fl)