On the evening of Tuesday 6 February, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union announced that they had reached a provisional agreement on the mid-term review of the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).
Parliament’s negotiators had expressed their deep concerns on Tuesday morning during a plenary debate in Strasbourg (see EUROPE 13344/13). However, they were satisfied with the final agreement reached later in the day, mainly concerning the financial support for Ukraine of €50 billion up to 2027. However, they were critical of the lack of additional funds allocated to research.
As the amounts of the EU budget increase have been frozen by the Member States (see EUROPE 13341/1), they have remained virtually unchanged, with the exception of the planned extension of the Horizon Europe programme, which has been reduced by a further €100 million (from €2.1 billion to €2.0 billion), thanks to withdrawals from the programme in 2019 and 2020.
The total amount of European priorities reinforced up to 2027 is therefore €64.5 billion. These priorities will be financed by €31.5 billion in subsidies (including €10.5 billion in redeployments and €21 billion in new money) and €33 billion in loans.
“Structural improvements to the EU budget were essential to take account of the rising debt costs (of the European Recovery Plan) Next Generation EU, the challenges of migration, and to increase flexibility, guaranteeing rapid responses to unforeseen events”, said Parliament’s negotiator, Jan Olbrycht (EPP, Polish), alongside the discussions.
“Although we would have liked an even more ambitious and comprehensive review, today’s agreement gives the EU more capacity than before to respond. We have taken a first step towards strengthening the EU’s strategic autonomy”, said the second co-rapporteur on the MFF, Margarida Marques (S&D, Portuguese).
The amounts set out in the agreement remain lower than those requested by MEPs in October (see EUROPE 13263/7), on the basis of the European Commission’s initial proposal. Parliament has, however, ensured that the budget review introduces a mechanism to deal with the escalating costs of repaying Next Generation EU, against a backdrop of rising interest rates.
“This would protect EU programmes such as Erasmus+ or funding for cross-border transport and energy infrastructure from cuts, and preserve flexibility options if costs go beyond what was initially planned. The new mechanism includes the use of unspent funds that would otherwise be lost to the EU budget, as well as a safety net with additional contributions from Member States in case of need”, said the European Parliament in a press release.
The European Parliament also considered that it had succeeded in guaranteeing “the harmonious implementation of the ‘EU4Health’ programme until 2027”.
A debate in the European Parliament Committee on Budgets is scheduled for Wednesday 14 February. The MEPs plan to accompany their provisional agreement with recommendations, ahead of the final plenary vote scheduled for the end of February. (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)