The budgetary negotiations just got more complicated, with the announcement, on Wednesday 16 November, that Italy will not be lifting its reservation over the mid-term revision of the multi-annual financial framework (MFF) of the EU for 2014-2020 any time soon (see EUROPE 11668).
Meeting for its 'budget' session in Brussels on Wednesday 16 November, the Ecofin Council nevertheless tried to reach a compromise with the European Parliament delegation on the 2017 budget of the EU, at the end of the so-called conciliation procedure. However, Parliament wants to discuss both the 2017 budget (which requires a qualified majority at the Council) and the revision of the MFF (which requires unanimity at the Council) at the same time.
For this reason, the Italian announcement that Rome will not be lifting its reservation on the revision of the MFF before the national referendum on constitutional reform is held, in December, has complicated matters.
The political outlook on the lifting of the Italian reservation could coincide with the referendum on the reform of the Italian Constitution, even though it is not directly related to it, an Italian source hinted to EUROPE. The same source added that the negotiations on the MFF and those on the 2017 budget of the EU are two separate decision-making processes with different procedures.
With regard to the MFF, Italy has demands in the fields of budgetary flexibility, migrants, youth employment and Erasmus, a source pointed out. Italy cannot issue a reservation on the 2017 budget, as only qualified majority is required at the Council on this dossier.
The Slovak Presidency of the Council may seek an agreement at the Council on the MFF subject to the Italian reservation being lifted, a number of sources also stated.
At the time of going to press, negotiations on the 2017 budget were expected to resume at 8.00pm at the conciliation committee (Council-EP, with the Commission in attendance). The Slovak Presidency was not ruling out the option of breaking off the budgetary talks on Wednesday, to resume them on Thursday, the cut-off point of the conciliation period. If there is no agreement by the end of this time, the Commission will be obliged to present a new draft budget for 2017. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)