Brussels, 15/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - The General Affairs Council on Tuesday 20 November will focus on preparing for the European Summit negotiations on 22 and 23 November on the EU's 2014-2020 multi-annual financial framework (MFF, seven-year budget) (see EUROPE 10730). It will be preceded on Monday evening by a dinner of European affairs ministers attended by the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, when a draft conclusions document will be discussed on the upcoming MFF. The document was criticised on Thursday by several member states; by the cohesion-friendly and Common Agricultural Policy-friendly countries for making too many cuts; and by some net-contributors, like the United Kingdom, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden, for not making enough cuts. Another subject on the agenda of the General Affairs Council is the Cohesion Policy for 2014-2020, where the ministers will try to reach partial agreement in principle on new aspects of the package of legislation. Finally, the European Commission will unveil its working programme for 2013.
The draft MFF conclusions document makes a number of reductions on the previous negotiations under the general spending heading and the caps on various categories of expenditure (see EUROPE 10730). A €74.5 billion reduction is planned on the Commission's initial draft; €6 billion more if one includes cuts in the financial instruments outside the EU's seven-year budget.
At the COREPER meeting on Thursday 15 November (Committee of Permanent Representatives of Member States to the EU), the most critical countries were the ones hit by reductions in the two biggest EU policies in terms of finance, namely cohesion and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP); for instance Spain, Italy, Portugal, Hungary, Romania and Greece. The United Kingdom announced that it would be unveiling figures to justify continuation of the British rebate (on its contributions to the EU) and show that it is the third biggest contributor to the EU's budget.
The net contributors broadly believe that the suggested cuts are a step in the right direction, but want them to go further. Denmark wants €135 billion of cuts (on the Commission's initial proposal of a total budget of €1,033 billion over seven years). The Netherlands wants a €100 billion cut (in payment appropriations) and Sweden says that about half the necessary cuts have been made to date. The United Kingdom is talking about freezing the budget in real terms.
The cohesion-friendly countries that were the most critical of the suggested €29.5 billion cut are Slovenia, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Portugal. France, Spain, Romania, Ireland, Italy, Bulgaria and Hungary say that the cuts have hit farming disproportionately. In a press release, the French prime minister says that the draft budget was not an acceptable negotiating stand for France in terms of the proposed spending on the CAP in its various dimensions. Finland, Austria, Romania - and even the UK - say that the second pillar of the CAP, rural development, has been slashed too far back. A number of net contributors (the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and others) want greater cuts in administrative spending. The current draft reduces administrative expenditure by €536 million, but it is reported that spending in this area will be changed to a total of €62.6 billion over seven years.
Cohesion Policy (public debate). The Council will try to agree on a fourth partial general guideline on legislation for the Cohesion Policy for 2014 to 2020. The partial general guideline will include: 1) financial management. The aim here is to ensure that aid provided by the EU under the Cohesion Policy is properly managed and protects the European Union's financial interests. The measures covered include annual pre-financing and intermediate payments made by the Commission for Cohesion Policy programmes, application of financial corrections in the event that irregularities are detected, and rules on the closure of operational programmes; 2) the Common Strategic Framework. This sets out strategy guidelines for the programming and coordination of EU aid under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF), the Cohesion Fund (CF), the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and the European Fund for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (EFMAF). This partial general guideline comes in addition to those approved on 24 April, 26 June and 16 October, but the four partial general guidelines do not prejudge the outcome of the talks on the Multiannual Financial Framework for 2014-2020. The Cypriot Presidency is planning to step up the informal three-way talks between the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Council of Ministers to ensure that the three institutions reach a preliminary agreement this year on programming. A breakthrough of this nature would facilitate the preparatory talks of the member states and their regions on implementation of the new programmes.
In the “Any other business” section of the meeting, the Presidency will brief the Council on the recent informal meeting of cohesion policy ministers in Nicosia on 6 November. (LC/transl.fl)