Negotiators from the Council of the EU, the European Parliament and the European Commission held lengthy negotiations, on Monday 9 November, with a view to reaching agreement on the details of the EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2021-2027 and the Recovery Plan to overcome the Covid-19 crisis (see EUROPE 12597/1).
The EU institutions negotiated on Monday until just before 8 p.m. and decided to resume talks on Tuesday 10 November at around 2 p.m. with a view to finally finding a compromise.
“The trilogue will resume tomorrow afternoon. We are very close to a good agreement!”, said José Manuel Fernandes (EPP, Portugal), the European Parliament rapporteur on EU own resources.
An increase of €16 billion for EU programmes? Negotiators from the three EU institutions appeared to be on the verge of finding common ground on an increase of around €16 billion in funding for the EU’s flagship programmes (Horizon2020, Erasmus...)
A figure close to the compromise proposals submitted by the European Commission on Monday. Initially, the European Parliament wanted an increase of €39 billion for these priority programmes and the EU Council accepted €10 billion.
The Commission suggested a ‘new automatic mechanism for the annual adjustment of the MFF platforms’. This instrument would make it possible to release up to €11 billion over the period 2022-2027 for the programmes in question (up to €2.5 billion would be mobilised thanks to the margins).
Own resources. The compromise presented provided for the introduction of a ‘basket’ of new own resources in three steps: - the first step, in 2021, with the introduction of a contribution calculated on the weight of non-recycled plastic packaging waste and the proposal for a carbon border adjustment mechanism, a digital levy and a revision of the EU Emissions Trading System; - a second step, in 2022-2023, with the introduction of a carbon border adjustment mechanism, a digital levy and a revised EU Emissions Trading System; - a third step, in 2024-2026, with a proposal for and the creation of additional own resources, including a financial transaction tax (FTT) and a new contribution linked to the corporate sector or a new common corporate tax base. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)