Brussels, 26/06/2013 (Agence Europe) -The difficult talks on the European Union's multi-annual financial framework (MFF) for 2014-2020 may well overshadow the discussions at the European summit of 27 and 28 June that are due to focus on tackling youth unemployment.
A top-level meeting will most likely be held on Thursday morning (before the launch of the summit) between the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Parliament (EP), Martin Schulz and the Irish prime minister, Enda Kenny, joined possibly by the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, and the negotiating team.
Parliament may decide to vote through a resolution on the MFF at its July plenary (next week) if no breakthrough is made in the talks over the next few days, in which case the EP would not vote on the MFF until September.
Schulz sent a letter on Tuesday 25 June to the Irish deputy prime minister, Eamon Gilmore, stating that ”the Council's MFF texts as they currently stand (Presidency notes of 20 June) do not take the Parliament's priorities sufficiently into account. Therefore it can be assumed that a large majority within the House will not support the outcome of last week's negotiations”. This, in fact, is why the Irish Presidency didn't ask the General Affairs Council on Tuesday to endorse the package.
On Tuesday evening, Gilmore met the head of the Socialists in the EP, Hannes Swoboda, and informal liaison continued between the Irish Presidency and European Parliament negotiators throughout Wednesday 26 June. On Wednesday morning, the Socialists and the Greens were still firmly opposed to the negotiated compromise. Swoboda said the package wasn't good enough and not enough progress had been made, but he didn't rule out agreement.
As things currently stand it appears that it is the Parliament which should clarify its position and the Council make further concessions (on flexibility and additional payment appropriations 2013) within the scope of its mandate. It is possible that EU leaders raise this matter, particularly as, in his letter of invitation, Van Rompuy, points out that “important decisions are expected to be taken on the MFF. I would like to use this occasion to ask all those involved to act responsibly and conclude the negotiations”. The issue of the British rebate is also likely to remain pending. France would like the basis for calculating this rebate to be much narrower. (MD/transl.fl)