Negotiators of the European Parliament and the Council of the EU failed to reach agreement on Friday 22 January, at the end of their fourth interinstitutional meeting (trilogue), on the regulation establishing the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) for 2021-2027.
Although progress has been made on “many technical points”, the two main sticking points remain (see EUROPE 12620/15), Dominique Riquet (Renew Europe, France), the European Parliament’s rapporteur on the subject, told EUROPE.
Compromise proposals had been submitted to the EU Council by Parliament prior to the meeting on these two points - namely, the allocation key for the cohesion envelope and the earmarking of part of the ‘Transport’ envelope to the Rail Baltica project.
Concerning the second sticking point, the compromise put forward would aim to retain the earmarking desired by the EU Council, while opening it to all Member States and not only to ‘cohesion countries’.
“I hope they accept our proposals”, MEP Marian Marinescu (EPP, Romania), who is also rapporteur on the issue, told a group of journalists. However, the Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council will need a week to study these proposals in detail and obtain a response from the Member States, he said.
This will be a difficult task, especially on the issue of pre-allocation. Estonia, in particular, told the rapporteurs through its ambassador that it would not be prepared to compromise on the issue, Marinescu told journalists.
The Presidency’s “positive attitude”
On the other hand, an agreement on the blockages concerning the start and end dates of the various funds, climate commitment, and conditionality linked to the Rule of law is in sight. Here too, the Presidency will have to discuss this with the EU Council.
Finally, the two rapporteurs welcomed the atmosphere in which the discussions took place on Friday.
“Much more positive, more constructive”, said Dominique Riquet, welcoming the “attentive listening of the Portuguese Presidency”. On several occasions, before the Transport Committee of the European Parliament, he had, on the contrary, expressed his regret that the previous - German - Presidency had been completely closed to debate.
However, the French MEP remains rather sceptical about the possibility of concluding an agreement at the next trilogue. For the time being, no date has been set for a new meeting.
Although funding under the previous CEF will continue to flow, no new call for projects will be launched until an agreement has been reached. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)