The European Commission will present a new proposal on the EU's Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2021-2027 “to address the economic fallout of the coronavirus crisis”, announced its President, Ursula von der Leyen, on Saturday 28 March (see EUROPE 12453/26).
At this stage, the President “is not excluding any options within the limits of the treaty” and believes that the MFF is at the heart of the European stimulus package.
Dacian Cioloș, president of the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament, said on 27 March that Mrs von der Leyen took the idea of integrating a stimulus package into a new proposal on the MFF “very seriously” (see EUROPE 12456/15).
In this way, the Commission is trying to regain the upper hand, after criticism of the EU and divisions between northern and southern Europeans, who are struggling to agree on the level of ambition of the economic and budgetary response to the pandemic (see EUROPE 12457/1).
This new proposal will incorporate “a stimulus package that will ensure that cohesion within the Union is maintained through solidarity and responsibility”, the Commission President said.
“The work has begun”, said Eric Mamer, Chief Spokesman of the European institution, on Monday 30 March. He recalled that, at the European Council meeting on 26 March (see EUROPE 12455/1), the Twenty-Seven asked Mrs von der Leyen to “make proposals on a stimulus package” and a concerted exit from the health crisis.
The MFF is one of the pillars of this stimulus package, “because it is clear that one of the questions that needs to be addressed is the to ability to ensure that we have a smooth return to normal”, said Mr Mamer. To this end, the MFF allows investments to be deployed throughout Europe.
For the President of the Commission, the European Green Deal and the digital transformation remain fundamental elements for stimulus and smart investments. There is therefore, in her view, no “contradiction” between the financial means needed to get out of the COVID-19 crisis and the pursuit of the EU's priorities as stated before the pandemic.
The Commission's initial proposal is dated May 2018. The two versions of the ‘negotiating box’, presented at the end of 2019 by the previous Finnish Presidency of the EU Council and in February by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, had caused great tension among EU leaders.
‘Frugal’ countries still refuse a budget higher than 1% of EU Gross National Income (GNI) (see EUROPE 12431/1).
The Commission is “currently working on a full flexibilisation of existing funds”, including those of cohesion policy, said Mrs von der Leyen (see other news).
Charles Michel is consulting Member States to assess the best time to schedule a new discussion on the MFF 2021-2027 at the highest political level, bearing in mind that the pandemic is preventing negotiations from taking place physically.
It is up to the European Council to find a unanimous compromise on the dossier, after which the European Parliament, which has long been calling for more ambition from the Twenty-Seven, will be asked to give its consent or not. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)