The European Commission may postpone for several months the presentation of the package of proposals on new own resources for the EU budget, according to several sources interviewed on Monday 19 July.
The draft agenda, dated 5 July, foresaw that the Commission would adopt, on Tuesday 20 July, a communication on the ‘next generation’ of own resources, a proposal for a revision of the own resources decision and a proposal for a revision of the regulation on the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).
Last June, Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn indicated that the Commission would present a proposal amending the Own Resources Decision to introduce three new own resources (see EUROPE 12736/1): – a carbon border adjustment mechanism; – a digital levy; – an own resource based on the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS).
However, the latest developments are leading the Commission to postpone the adoption of proposals on new revenues for the EU budget until the autumn.
The Commission already announced on 12 July that it will pause work on its ‘digital levy’ proposal until the autumn to support the finalisation of the agreement on international tax reform agreed by the ‘G20 Finance’ (see EUROPE 12760/15).
In addition, the ‘Fit for 55’ climate package contains proposals for a new EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to cover emissions from space heating and road transport (see EUROPE 12764/11). The Commission also presented on 14 July a plan for a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM).
While Mr Hahn expressed his full support for the ambitions of the ‘Fit for 55’ package, he regretted that the package made no reference to the EU’s new own resources.
For some MEPs, the delays in adopting the new own resources have an impact on the repayment arrangements for the Recovery Plan. These new own resources are intended to help repay the Recovery Plan.
On Friday 16 July, David Sassoli, President of the European Parliament, protested to the Commission against the effects of the delay in presenting the own resources package, an initiative that was a precondition for Parliament’s consent on the 2021-2027 MFF.
Since the burden of repayment of the Next Generation EU Recovery Plan cannot fall on the new generations, “a basket of new own resources is necessary” for the EU budget, he stresses in the letter. Such a basket would also avoid increasing Member States’ contributions and avoid budget cuts.
Postponing its proposal by several months would, according to the Parliament’s President, violate the Commission’s “legal commitments” to present its proposals on own resources enshrined in the December 2020 Interinstitutional Agreement (IIA) on cooperation on budgetary matters.
Link to President Sassoli’s letter: https://bit.ly/3hOwpZo (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur with Mathieu Bion)