Several political groups in the European Parliament have asked the Finnish Prime Minister, Antti Rinne, to get strongly involved in ensuring that the European Council reaches unanimous agreement on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021-2027 before the end of 2019, during a debate on the presentation of the Finnish priorities of the EU Council on Wednesday 17 July in Strasbourg.
On behalf of the EPP Group, Romania's Siegfried Mureșan hoped for an early agreement on the MFF to avoid a delay in the implementation of European Cohesion Policy. Yet, on the other hand, "we don't agree on cutting money for cohesion", he warned. S&D Group Chair Iratxe García Pérez of Spain supported these words by calling for a "solid" budgetary framework for both the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and for Cohesion Policy.
On behalf of the liberal group Renew Europe, Frenchman Pascal Canfin linked the budget dossier to the Finnish objective of making Europe the leading continent in the fight against climate change. According to him, the CAP budget must be maintained and the share of the EU budget post-2020, which will be devoted to the fight against climate change, needs to be increased to "30%". On the MFF's own resources, he said, "the 'plastic' tax can work", noting that "Member States are close to an agreement" on this point.
Mr Rinne promised that the Finnish Presidency would try to reach a final deal on the EU budget post-2020 by the end of 2019. "We need to find a balanced solution that reflects the new EU priorities", he said, citing climate and research as priorities. According to him, it is difficult to explain in Finland, a net contributor to the budget, that European financial assistance can be granted to countries that do not respect the principles of the rule of law (see other news). A legal link must therefore be made between these two elements, Mr Rinne considered.
On the issue of the rule of law, Ska Keller (Greens/EFA, Germany) urged the Finnish authorities to move forward with the Article 7 procedure opened by Parliament against Hungary (see EUROPE 12297/2).
In the second half of the year, the Finnish Presidency hopes to convince the handful of Member States that are still reluctant to set the EU's carbon neutrality target at 2050 (see EUROPE 12279/2). Finland has set itself the 2035 target for achieving this," said the Commissioner for Growth, Jyrki Katainen. "Finland is pragmatic, down to earth and cool-headed. That’s exactly what Europe needs," he said.
Mr Mureșan praised this Member State for being the first country in the world to establish equal political rights for men and women. He urged the Finnish Presidency to take action to ensure that Romania's Laura Codruța Kövesi becomes head of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (see EUROPE 12298/14). Later, at a press conference, Mr Rinne said he hoped that the Member States' ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) would reach an agreement on this issue.
On migration issues, Laura Huhtasaari (Identity and Democracy, Finland) said that the creation of a mechanism to manage migrant arrivals would worsen the situation by perpetuating flows. The Finnish government lives in a "multicultural utopia", she said. On the other hand, Tiziana Beghin (NI, Italy) called for a system for distributing migrants rescued at sea. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)