The Chair of the European Parliament Committee on Budgets, Johan Van Overtveldt (ECR, Belgium), warned Member States ,on Tuesday 30 June, that the European Parliament is ready to derail any EU27 consensus on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021-2027 that does not take into account the position of MEPs.
“Our main message: do your best to quickly reach a compromise. But let's meet as soon as possible and as frequently as necessary so the European Parliament view can be taken into account “, said Van Overtveldt, calling for the Parliament to be “fully involved”, in the negotiations on the post-2020 EU budget.
According to the Chair of the Parliament’s Budgets Committee, a possible unanimous agreement of the European Council on the MFF 2021-2027 would “not be the end of the story”. He cited several areas where the Parliament has real decision-making power: own resources, spending programmes, the European Green Deal, the text linking the granting of the EU budget to respect for the Rule of law, the link between the budgetary process of the 'European Semester' and the European Recovery Plan.
“But, at this point in time, we have only been consulted on the own resources”, Van Overtveldt said.
The Belgian also noted that the legal basis (Article 122 TFEU) of the proposal establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the main budgetary instrument of the European Recovery Plan, “totally excludes” the Parliament (see EUROPE 12516/2). Given the amounts involved, we want to play our full role of budgetary and democratic control, he added.
The Commission proposes to raise €750 billion (€500 billion in grants and €250 billion in loans) on markets on behalf of the Member States (see EUROPE 12494/1). The Recovery and Resilience Facility will be endowed with €310 billion in grants and €250 billion in loans.
Van Overtveldt also criticised the EU Council and the European Commission for their inaction, while the European Parliament has been calling since 2019 for emergency measures to be applied in the event of delays in the negotiations and implementation of the post-2020 EU budget.
The Franco-German tandem shows its unity
On Monday in Meseberg, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron displayed their common vision for the European Recovery Plan put forward by the Commission, which is based on the specific Franco-German proposal (see EUROPE 12489/1).
“There is no decision in the EU if France and Germany do not agree”, Merkel said. Despite the scepticism expressed by some countries, “everyone agrees that we need to be stronger after the crisis” and that we need to “invest more than ever in the future”, she said.
The German Chancellor, whose country is about to take the helm of the EU Council, spoke in particular of the importance of transiting the economies of the Member States towards the objective of climate neutrality by 2050, which she believes can be achieved by raising, “in October”, the greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for 2030. She added: “The more ambitious we are, the more we will have to protect the EU. Just because we decide to be climate neutral in 2050 does not mean that the rest of the world will do so. We have to organise ourselves economically and politically”.
For Mr Macron, the European Council meeting in Brussels on 17 and 18 July will be a success if an agreement on the European recovery plan provides for “at least 500 billion euros in grants”, because “loans add to the public debt”, if it is “strictly conditional on the EU's climate commitments” and if it promotes European “sovereignty” in the digital, industrial and security fields.
He also called for an “end to naivety” in trade with the EU's main partners. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)