On Wednesday, 29 July, the German Presidency of the EU Council forwarded a revised proposal for a Council Decision on the system of the European Union's own resources.
This proposal is part of the package translating into legislative acts the conclusions of the last European Council on the post-Covid-19 Recovery Plan and on the EU Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2021-2027 (see EUROPE 12538/3).
The proposal confirms the maintenance of flat-rate rebates on the annual contribution based on gross national income in favour of Denmark (€377 million), Germany (€3.671 billion), the Netherlands (€1.921 billion), Austria (€565 million) and Sweden (€1.069 billion).
There are also provisions to empower the Commission to borrow funds on the capital markets on behalf of the Union up to €750 billion at 2018 prices (loans up to €360 billion and grants up to €390 billion at 2018 prices).
The amounts of the own resources ceilings shall be temporarily increased by 0.6 percentage points for the sole purpose of covering all the Union's commitments arising from its borrowing to deal with the consequences of the Covid-19 crisis, until such time as all such commitments have ceased to exist and, at the latest, until 31 December 2058.
The proposal on own resources provides for the creation, as a first step, of a new own resource: a levy on plastic waste, to be introduced in 2021. In order to avoid an “excessively regressive” impact on national contributions, an “adjustment mechanism” is foreseen (reduction to be equal to 3.8 kg multiplied by the 2017 population of the Member States concerned).
The text recalls that the Commission should bring forward proposals for a border carbon adjustment mechanism and a digital charge, both to be introduced by 1 January 2023 at the latest (after which the Commission will have to make a revised proposal for the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), possibly extended to the aviation and maritime transport sectors. The proceeds of the new own resources introduced after 2021 will be used for the early repayment of the loans contracted in the framework of the ‘Next Generation EU’.
For traditional own resources (customs duties and sugar levies), Member States will retain 25% of the amounts collected as collection costs (compared to 20% in the period 2014-2020).
The MFF foresees that the ceiling for the EU to cover annual appropriations is set at 1.4% of the GNI of all Member States for payments and 1.46% of the GNI of all Member States for commitments.
Link to own resources proposal: https://bit.ly/2PciCwY (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)