The European Commission published new data on Tuesday 5 November intended to call on Member States to stop thinking in terms of ‘fair return’ in the highly sensitive debate on the EU’s multiannual financial framework (MFF) for 2021-2027.
The Commission considers the concept of net balances to be totally “outdated”. The share of funds allocated to the common agricultural policy (CAP) and cohesion is constantly declining in favour of the new priorities, for which it is much more difficult to calculate the share allocated to each country. Nor does the budget balance make it possible to measure the benefits for Member States of pooling resources (research, immigration, combating climate change).
The Commission is defending its proposal on the MFF, while several net contributors to the budget (Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden) are advocating a budget limited to 1% of the EU’s gross national income for the 2021-2027 period. On the other side, the so-called “cohesion” countries are opposed to a reduction in cohesion appropriations (see EUROPE 12363/1).
Nine countries have a negative balance. The Commission would like to highlight the advantages for Member States of belonging to the EU, beyond a simple accounting logic concerning budgetary revenues.
By calculating the ‘budget balance’, each country knows whether it belongs to the category of net beneficiaries or ‘net contributors’, those who receive less money than they contribute to the EU budget.
According to the figures from 2014-2018 (2018 prices) presented by the Commission, nine EU countries now have a negative balance: Belgium (-€1.15 billion; -0.26% of GNI), Denmark (-€0.86 billion; -0.29%), Germany (-€13.5 billion; -0.41%), Italy (-€3.97 billion; -0.22%), Finland (-€0.55 billion; -0.24%), France (-€6.87 billion; -0.29%), Austria (€1.12 billion; -0.31%), the Netherlands (-€2.58 billion ; -0.35%) and Sweden (€1.74 billion; -0,36%).
The Commission proposes a total budget for 2021-2027 equivalent to 1.14% of the Twenty-Seven’s GNI, compared to 1.03% of the Twenty-Eight’s GNI between 2014 and 2020, including the European Development Fund (EDF).
Most of this increase is due to growth and inflation. The rest is due to the loss of revenue from the United Kingdom’s departure (around €13 billion per year) and the need to fund ‘new priorities’ (research, climate, digital, migration, defence).
‘Net contributor’ countries are those that contribute the least per capita, due to the rebate system. The Commission proposes phasing out this system over five years.
Eighteen EU countries (France, Italy, Poland, Romania, Spain, Hungary, Greece, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Luxembourg, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia and Slovakia) have also called in a recent working document for the abolition of the correction system at the end of 2020 and for the gradual elimination, within five years, of budget rebates granted to Austria, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. But the countries that benefit from them are strongly opposed to ending these correction mechanisms.
French President Emmanuel Macron stated at the European Council in mid-October that a budget that “multiplies discounts is a budget where everyone looks at their share after what they have put in, that is, anything but a budget”.
Projection of national contributions. The Commission presented a table on the projection of national contributions. Germany contributed €25.5 billion per year between 2014 and 2020 (0.75% of its GNI), a figure that would rise to €32.7 billion (0.88% of GNI) if the Commission's proposals were accepted. For France, the figures show a contribution of €20.49 billion over the 2014-2020 period (0.85% of GNI) and €22.45 billion over the 2021-2027 period. For Italy, it is €14.91 billion over the 2014-2020 period and €15.27 billion over the subsequent time period.
The benefits of integration into the single market represent five times, on average, the amount of national contributions to the EU budget (e.g. €208 billion per year for Germany over the 2021-2027 period, compared to an annual contribution over this period of €32.7 billion), and as much as ten times for some countries, including the Netherlands and Belgium.
The Commission recalls that the annual contribution to the EU budget per capita amounts to €241 or €0.66 per day, a figure that would rise to an average of €289 over the 2021-2027 period (€0.79 per day), according to the Commission’s proposal. To consult the Commission’s new data: http://bit.ly/2pCIBVa
Ongoing negotiations. The Finnish Presidency of the EU Council is endeavouring to present a “finalised” Negotiation Box for the 2021-2027 MFF, with figures, before the European Council on 12 and 13 December. The General Affairs Council on 10 December will prepare for discussions between EU leaders. For the time being, the sources interviewed do not know the precise date on which the quantified ‘negotiation box’ will be presented to the delegations.
Commissioner Günther Oettinger had considered at the end of October that an agreement on the next MFF should rather be reached “in February or March 2020” (see EUROPE 12360/8, 12352/1). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)