The European Commission may soon propose to raise the ceilings of the European Union’s own resources in order to make more budgetary resources available after 2020, in particular to combat the coronavirus pandemic and to finance a major economic recovery plan.
The Commission could adopt on 29 April its proposals to update its May 2018 proposal on the EU's next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2021-2027.
Such an increase in the EU's own resources ceilings was considered by EU Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn in the Financial Times on Wednesday 8 April.
Under the 2014-2020 MFF, the Union may finance itself from its own resources to make payments of up to 1.20% of the sum of the Gross National Income (GNI) of all Member States. The total amount of commitment appropriations - obligations binding on the EU - may not exceed 1.26% of EU GNI.
According to Mr Hahn, the Commission could raise these ceilings to 2% of GNI for a maximum of four years, an initiative which would give the Commission additional borrowing capacity on the financial markets.
Officials of the EU institution estimate that the money collected could help Member States to secure spending and investments of up to 1.5 billion euros in the first three years of the next MFF.
Changes to the own resources ceilings require unanimous agreement in the EU Council and ratification by national parliaments. “So it’s not a sure thing”, said a European source. But it is a possible option.
The decision on own resources could have retroactive effect and, in order to maintain the EU's AAA financial rating, headroom between the MFF ceilings and the own resources ceiling is needed to finance all off-budget instruments backed by the EU budget.
The Commission has already stressed that the MFF is a key instrument to implement the Recovery Plan, while negotiations in the Eurogroup on a package of additional emergency measures are struggling to reach a compromise (see EUROPE 12464/4). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)