Brussels, 04/02/2013 (Agence Europe) - “The time has come for an agreement. We are agreed on that point”, Ireland's Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister), Eamon Gilmore, told the General Affairs Council on Monday 4 February, with reference to negotiations on the multi-annual financial framework (MFF) 2014-2020 of the EU. An agreement at the European Council of Thursday 7 and Friday 8 February would allow the Irish Presidency of the Council of Ministers to continue the work needed to ensure that the programmes of the EU under the MFF (agriculture, cohesion policy, research, Erasmus programme, etc) are in place by the end of the year, Gilmore added. “In the event of breakdown, the EU would enter a new period of economic turbulence and disturbances. We cannot allow this to happen”, said the president-in-exercise of the General Affairs Council, who firmly believes that “we will reach an agreement on the 2014-2020 budget by the end of the week”. An agreement at the European Council would not be the end of the story, Gilmore nonetheless stressed, as the European Parliament has an important role to play (it must give its blessing to the agreement on expenditure).
At a session attended by Herman Van Rompuy, the ministers of the General Affairs Council held a working lunch on the financial framework 2014-2020. Van Rompuy confirmed that he would not present any new detailed proposals before the start of the European Council in the afternoon of Thursday 7 February. The overall envelope in the new proposal is expected to be reduced from the one in November, even though we must not go too far from the “landing zone” of the draft presented at the November European Summit.
Roadmap to facilitate agreement with EP
Speaking on behalf of the European Commission, Maros Sefcovic spoke of “fairly cautious optimism” among the delegations at the prospect of managing to conclude the discussions. “We hope for a good agreement and that the balance of this agreement will make it possible to create a favourable climate ahead of negotiations with the EP”, the Commission added. In the event of an agreement on the MFF on 7 or 8 February, the Irish Presidency and the Commission will be able to present the Council and the EP with a kind of “roadmap” on the next step in the negotiations. He called on the Council for a “reasonable result” on the financial envelope (which, in November, was already €80 billion less in total than the Commission's initial proposal), which would make it possible to honour most of the European priorities and guarantee the support of the EP. The MFF which will be decided on for 2014-2020 will be lower than the one for 2007-2014, Sefcovic acknowledged. “We have already lost two months on the preparatory legislative work needed to implement the forthcoming MAFF”, he went on to observe.
“Mr Van Rompuy is picking things back up where he left them in November. The process of bilateral meetings with the delegations is over. He will present a raft of proposals on Thursday. If there is an agreement, we will draft a roadmap with the EP to schedule the discussions we will need to obtain the EP's consent”, Gilmore explained. On Monday morning, he met a delegation of the EP to discuss the next steps.
On Sunday 3 February, François Hollande, who was to receive President of the Italian Council Mario Monti on the same day, said that the conditions for an agreement on the dossier had “not yet been met”. He said that “the negotiations are very difficult”. Why? Because, he explained, it “affects a conception of Europe which is, in our view, based on solidarity and growth, but also national interests”. In spite of everything, Hollande seems convinced. “We still have a few days and, I imagine, a whole night, to obtain a result which we all want, in other words a successful negotiation”, he said. For his part, Mario Monti said that the “net contribution of each member state should reflect the economic situation of each, given the financial crisis which has been worse the some than others”. He was clearly making a direct reference to his own country. Since the breakdown of November 2012 on the MFF, the tension has gone up a notch. British Prime Minister David Cameron who is arguing in favour of drastic cuts to the EU budget, promised at the end of January to hold a referendum by 2017 on the UK's membership of the EU. On Saturday 2 February, Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, also said that she anticipated extremely tough talks.
The economy at the March European Council
The General Affairs Council examined a draft annotated agenda drawn up by the President of the European Council together with the Irish Presidency and the Commission, on the meeting of the European Council of 14 and 15 March. Economic policy will, as is traditional, be central to the meeting: European semester, economic governance, pact for growth and employment. As regards external relations, the European Council in March will discuss relations with strategic partners. (LC/transl.fl)