The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, said on Tuesday 10 December in Paris, after a meeting with President Emmanuel Macron, that he would make “innovative” proposals to facilitate agreement on the EU’s next multiannual financial framework (MFF).
After the presentation of the Finnish ‘negotiation box’ to the next European Council, it will be up to President Michel to lead the negotiations on the 2021-2027 MFF (see other news).
Charles Michel stressed that the challenge in this “political” debate was to “bring together financial capacities” at the European level, to identify a “target in terms of amounts” and to find a “balance” between traditional policies (agriculture and cohesion) and new ambitions (innovation, migration, climate change). He said he hoped that on Thursday and Friday, EU leaders would not take up pre-existing “fixed positions”. Everyone will have to “move forward” to bring their points of view closer together, and he intends to present “innovative proposals so that everyone can converge on this common approach”.
Mr Macron recalled that he did not believe in the opposition between historical policies, on the one hand, and new policies, on the other. France advocates “policies of sovereignty and solidarity”: support for farmers, defence, space, the euro area budget and new own resources for the EU. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)