Despite the pressing demand from MEPs, the European Commission continues to believe that contingency measures to address the delay in the adoption of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021-2027 are not a solution. This was reiterated on Friday 6 March at a conference in Brussels by Gert Jan Koopman, Director General for Budget Services (DG Budget) of the European Commission (see EUROPE 12434/17).
Indeed, he recalled that such a proposal would be considered as a mini negotiation on the next MFF and that an agreement would be difficult to reach. And in the event of a compromise on these contingency measures, “we would have a budget from the past, with no money for the new priorities” (European Green Deal, digital, defence), he argued.
The only thing the Treaty foresees is a prolongation of the MFF ceilings. However, the Commission must make a proposal to prolong all the legal bases. The European Parliament and the EU Council would then need to agree on this text. “If we enter into such negotiations, the same problems, the same fights would occur in the same context. Agreeing a contingency package would therefore not be easy at all”, explained Gert Jan Koopman.
The Commission also explained that, without a new MFF or a ‘contingency plan’, the 2021 budget would be reduced to its strict minimum and limited to the implementation of a few programmes whose legal bases have not expired and to administrative expenditure. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)