The European Commissioner for the Budget, Günther H. Oettinger, called for a slightly higher EU budget, at 1.1% of EU GNI (gross national income), in Brussels on Monday 8 January, at a conference on the multi-annual financial framework (MFF) post-2020, which shed early light on the principal budgetary challenges to come.
Germany considers that this level of ambition would equate to additional spending of around €10 billion; “it’s a lot”, but it is less than the target increase in...