On Tuesday 9 June, finance ministers held an exchange of views on the Recovery Plan for Europe entitled Next Generation EU, which supplements the revised proposal for the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) (see EUROPE 12502/22).
Minister Zdravko Marić, who chaired the last ‘Ecofin’ Council before the end of the Croatian Presidency of the EU Council, welcomed the European Commission’s proposal, stressing the importance of acting quickly to make funding available in the early years of the budget cycle (mobilisation of 60 percent of the Recovery Plan’s total envelope over the first two years), respecting the EU’s cross-sectional policy priorities (European Green Deal, digital transition), and ensuring that Member States have a robust ability to absorb EU funds.
He also cited a number of areas where “views differ” among Member States: - the magnitude of the investment gap directly related to the Covid-19 pandemic; - the choice of parameters for allocating future European funds, in particular the opportunity of integrating indicators to identify the territories most affected by the coronavirus.
Specifically from the Croatian perspective, Marić said the suggested balance between grants (500 billion euros) and loans (250 billion euros) is “adequate”.
On behalf of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis hoped that unanimous political agreement from the EU27 would be reached “in July” in order to finalise the legislative procedures at the European and national levels in time to initiate the 2021-2027 MFF at the beginning of 2021. According to him, “a large majority" of the Member States support the overall architecture of the proposal on the table.
European semester. After a brief discussion, the ‘Ecofin’ Council also approved the country-specific socioeconomic policy recommendations presented by the European Commission (see EUROPE 12491/12).
One of this year’s highlights is the freezing of the Stability and Growth Pact to allow Member States to finance the fight against coronavirus and to support their economies.
Except for Belgium, Bulgaria and Cyprus, the EU Council did not amend the draft country-specific recommendations, which will be definitively adopted in July after endorsement by the European Council.
More info at: https://bit.ly/3hhqZDU (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)