The Netherlands’ political priorities for the post-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) are competitiveness, migration and asylum policy, and security and defence, according to a position paper dated 24 March consulted by Agence Europe. Next comes food safety.
The Netherlands is not denying the other programmes in the long-term budget, but believes that choices will have to be made. In any case, the resources of the various existing programmes will have to “contribute more to the priorities”.
Choices to make. According to the Netherlands, “the budgetary situation of the Member States and the major challenges ahead” will make it necessary to “rethink the priorities of the existing budget”. Competitiveness is presented as “a cross-cutting theme” of the EU budget.
The traditional pillars of the EU budget, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and Cohesion Policy will respectively have to “make a greater contribution to society, modernisation, competitiveness and innovation” and put “more emphasis on the competitiveness of the EU, while taking into account the specific characteristics and strengths of each region”. The Netherlands has identified three major transitions to be led by Cohesion Policy: digital, social (labour market) and green.
“The increased importance” of defence will also have to be reflected in MFF programmes. With this in mind, the Netherlands intends to propose a defence programme combining military mobility with various elements to strengthen the European defence industry. However, they warn that “any increase in defence spending, including investment, will have to be financed mainly from Member States’ national budgets”.
Asylum and migration. The post-2027 MFF should help to “limit the scale of migration towards the Netherlands”, which will require the implementation of the EU’s ‘Pact on Migration and Asylum’. The Netherlands wants to make migration objectives “a key guiding principle in the allocation of European funds to third countries”. France (see EUROPE 13599/6), Estonia and Spain (see EUROPE 13578/3) have not made migration such a priority.
Own resources. Because the funding of new and old priorities will come up against the start of repayment of Next Generation EU from 2028 (around 20% of the EU’s annual budget as it stands), the issue of new own resources has been presented as central by the European Commission.
On this subject, the Netherlands says it cannot “approve new own resources in advance”, but is open to new own resources based on the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and the Emissions Trading System (ETS), two proposals that are “financially advantageous for the Netherlands”.
The Netherlands is also calling on the EU to use its funds to mobilise additional financing, using InvestEU and the European Investment Bank (EIB) as examples.
Budget architecture. While the Netherlands is in favour of greater flexibility in the MFF, it points out that it is “an investment budget, where stability and predictability are essential” and that it will therefore be necessary to maintain binding budget ceilings.
Like most Member States, the Netherlands is not opposed to the idea of a performance-based MFF and the principle of ‘reform for money’ but would like to see the Commission’s concrete proposal. (Original version in French by Florent Servia)