The prime ministers of four countries — Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia — forming the Visegrád Group (V4) fear that they will be disadvantaged in the allocation of EU funds that will flow from Next Generation EU, the Recovery Plan for Europe that complements the European Commission's revised proposal for the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021-2027 (see EUROPE 12504/2).
“The distribution of funds should not disadvantage countries that have managed the pandemic relatively successfully. The allocation criteria for both the MFF and the Next Generation EU should be fair to low-income countries, as the level of prosperity reflects the capacity of Member States to finance the recovery”, warned the four leaders in a statement adopted after their mini-summit on Thursday (11 June).
Regarding the Recovery and Resilience Facility, which is the main pillar of the Recovery Plan (see EUROPE 12494/2), the V4 are of the opinion that “unemployment rates observed before 2020 should not be the only indicators”, as they should also reflect the impact of lockdown on national economies. The instrument should also be adapted to the needs of Member States and provide for “guaranteed national envelopes”.
The four countries are also to pay close attention to the post-2020 Cohesion Policy. The REACT-EU budget increase of €40 billion should be distributed according to “the relative prosperity of Member States as expressed in GNI/capita and the economic impact of the crisis”, they said. In addition, the flexibilities introduced at the time of the pandemic (CRII/CRII+ instruments) should be maintained until 2027.
Furthermore, the Visegrád Group supports strategic investment priorities (European Green Deal, digital transition) within the framework of Next Generation EU. It emphasises the importance of also co-financing the construction of key infrastructure in the transport and energy sectors in order to strengthen the internal market,
as well as ultimately advocating the elimination of budget rebates that no longer apply to Brexit.
View the Visegrád countries' declaration here: https://bit.ly/2YqA30Y
The Eurogroup is working on the ‘euro area’ dimension of the recovery plan
On Thursday, the European Finance Ministers, meeting in an ‘enlarged Eurogroup’ format 2 days after the Ecofin Council (see EUROPE 12503/5), discussed how to maintain the euro area dimension in the Recovery Plan for Europe.
In this respect, the outgoing president of the Eurogroup, Mário Centeno, is of the opinion that the Recovery and Resilience Facility, although temporary and foreseen for the EU-27, “inherits the spirit” that led to the preparation of the budget (BICC) for the nineteen countries in the euro area. According to him, the budgetary process of the 'European Semester', which includes a strong euro area dimension reflected in the annual socio-economic policy recommendation for the Eurozone, will be “at the heart” of the Recovery and Resilience Facility instrument. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)