In Brussels on Tuesday 7 March, the Italian Secretary of State for European Affairs, Sandro Gozi, told the 'General Affairs' Council that Italy had lifted its reservation on the text of the mid-term revision of the multi-annual financial framework of the EU for 2014-2020.
At the meeting of Coreper (Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Member States to the EU) on Tuesday morning, the European Commission presented a draft declaration granting concessions to Italy, for instance on the credits earmarked for the youth employment initiative and on measures to manage the migration crisis and ensure the security of EU citizens.
Italy told the 'General Affairs' Council that it was lifting its reservation, which marks the end of a very difficult process. A pre-agreement was reached in November at the Council, but Italy refused to come on board, thereby blocking the dossier, which requires unanimity at the Council (see EUROPE 11668).
A declaration to take everything off ice. The First Vice-President of the Commission, Frans Timmermans, said that the Commission's declaration aimed to ensure that the priorities identified (tackling youth unemployment, fighting the root causes of migration, better controls on the external borders of the EU, support for refugees) get the attention they deserve, whilst continuing to implement programmes already decided upon. The Commission's declaration still needs to be formally approved by the College of Commissioners on Wednesday 8 March.
The EU must use its resources for the political priorities identified, such as the fight against youth unemployment and migration, which is a European competence, or to do more in terms of security and defence, said Gozi. Italy also wished to see extra money for Erasmus, in particular. There are important commitments that feature in the declaration of the Commission, he said, referring to commitments on the budgetary margins, tackling youth unemployment and migration. We have to show a constructive spirit and it is in this spirit that we are lifting our reservation, Gozi concluded. He went on to announce that in mid-April, Italy will present a working document ahead of the negotiations on the MFF post-2020.
The Maltese Presidency of the Council announced shortly afterwards that an agreement in principle had been noted at the Council on this dossier and that the Council would ask the European Parliament to give its consent to the text.
The UK abstains. The British delegation announced that it was abstaining in the vote on the Council's position on the mid-term revision, “in view of the realities of our situation”. Sweden said that it could not accept the Commission's declaration. “Last November's compromise reflects a subtle balance between the member states and we believe that we should respect that agreement”, it said.
Germany said that it supported the declaration, but added that it would not be “very smart” to launch a debate on whether or not the Council should lend its backing to the Commission's declaration.
Main elements of the agreement. The revised MFF provides for an increase of €6.01 billion for the principal priorities between 2017 and 2020: €2.55 billion to fight migration, reinforce security and step up the controls on the external borders, €1.39 billion to tackle the root causes of migration and €2.08 billion to stimulate growth and create jobs (including an extra €1.2 billion under the youth employment initiative).
MFF to be made more flexible. The amounts for the emergency aid reserve and flexibility instrument will be increased (by 23 million and 145 million a year respectively on average) over the years 2017-2020. It will also be possible to transfer unused amounts from one special instrument to another: in this way, amounts equivalent to the unused resources under the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) and the Solidarity Fund of the EU may be allocated to the flexibility instrument. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)