The European Commission could present during the week of 18 May (20 May has been mentioned) its revised proposal on the EU's multiannual financial framework (MFF) for 2021-2027 as well as its first ideas on the post-Covid-19 pandemic recovery plan.
The Commission should therefore not be able to present the new MFF and the recovery plan at next week's European Parliament’s plenary session.
This is what emerged on Tuesday 5 May from the meeting of the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament, which received the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to discuss the MFF dossier and the recovery plan.
1.2% of GNI? However, no formal date would have been specified before the Parliament by the President of the Commission.
Sources told EUROPE that the Commission would expect a total MFF volume of 1.2% of EU-27 gross national income (GNI), which, given the crisis and its effects on EU countries' GDP, could be less than the May 2018 proposal (1.114% of GNI).
Adding the funds from the Recovery Plan, the Commission would like to reach a total volume of 2% of EU GNI. One of the options to reach this figure would be to revise the current ceiling of the EU's own resources (1.2% of EU GNI).
The Commission is aware of the need for a 'bridging solution' for the second half of 2020 to stimulate investment, said Commission chief spokesman Eric Mamer on Tuesday 5 May.
The MFF proposal would be accompanied by a Communication on the Recovery Plan, detailing the effects of the Covid-19 crisis on EU countries and sectors.
The Commission would seek a balance in the Recovery Plan between loans and grants, an issue that divides EU countries (see EUROPE 12477/6).
The post-Coronavirus 'EU Recovery Programme' would enable the EU, according to the Commission's initial plans, to raise €323 billion on the financial markets (see EUROPE 12474/1, 12473/2).
Parliament’s President David Sassoli said he had asked Mrs von der Leyen to be "clear" on the timing and ambition for the new PSC.
Iratxe García (S&D, Spain), chair of the S&D group, called for the socio-economic convergence objective between EU countries and regions to be maintained.
The stimulus fund should, in her view, be put in place before the next MFF comes into force and should be used to correct imbalances and avoid an asymmetric response to the crisis.
This recovery fund should be financed with new money and by "issuing a common debt", defended Iratxe García.
On the EPP side, Manfred Weber asked Mrs von der Leyen to avoid an "intergovernmental approach", with the new MFF 2021-2027 on the one hand and a recovery plan on the other. Mr Weber is said to have insisted on the "democratic process" that must be followed so that the Parliament can have a say in the stimulus spending.
Dacian Cioloș, president of the Renew Europe group, advocated a key role for the Parliament in defining the priorities of the recovery plan. The 'European Green Deal' and the digital agenda "remain major priorities, with, of course, important lessons to be learnt for our industrial, health, energy and food policies", he believed. The new MFF must live up to its ambitions, benefit from "new own resources" and be endowed with a strong investment capacity, in line with the recovery plan. "It must also, more than ever, be subordinated to respect for the rule of law", Mr Cioloș insisted. Finally, he said that the recovery plan "cannot be limited to the issuance of loans". (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)