"Everyone will have to move on the multiannual financial framework 2021-2027. If a few Member States don't move, we will have serious problems", warned Gert Jan Koopman, Director General for Budget Services (DG Budget) of the European Commission, on Wednesday 26 February in Brussels.
Faced with the stalemate in the negotiations, due in particular to the inflexible position of the four 'frugal' countries (Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Austria), the Director General of DG Budget nevertheless wanted to be “optimistic”, during a briefing organised by the European Policy Center after the extraordinary summit devoted to the EU MFF 2021-2027 (see EUROPE 12431/1).
"The history of these negotiations has shown that in the end, an agreement is reached", the senior official said. He said he hoped that the other scenarios, different from a compromise, would not happen: "Whether you are 'frugal' or a 'friend of cohesion', these are all very bad scenarios".
Mr Koopman strongly emphasised that the EU was already behind in the process of setting up the new MFF. In addition to the MFF regulation, legal instruments are needed to implement the programmes. “These legal instruments are dependent on the outcome of negotiations on the MFF". For cohesion, Member States still have to submit their 'operational programmes', which then have to be approved by the Commission. But this process takes time. "There is a risk that 2021 will be a year without the necessary legal instruments" for some programmes, warned Gert Jan Koopman.
A one-year mini MFF? The European Parliament has asked the Commission to present an emergency regulation to extend the legal bases.
But, the European official recalled, as this "one-year MFF mini-packet" will also have to include a decision on own resources (otherwise the rebates will disappear as of 1 January 2021), "all subjects will be on the table". It will therefore be difficult to agree on this mini MFF packet within a few months.
Mr Koopman cautioned against further cuts to funding for new programmes. "Falls should not be allowed to go beyond that".
He noted that frugal countries had been very active last week and that "for many member states, national parliaments and national public opinion are very important".
Own resources. The Commission has stressed the need to provide new "fresh" own resources, even in "small doses", to relieve the pressure on national contributions. "I think that with 10% of the EU budget" financed by own resources, this would change the dynamics of the budget negotiations, Mr Koopman said.
The last Commission document by the way abolished the ETS tax. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)