On Monday, 30 June, the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs explained that France and Germany are going to launch a joint seminar on the next multiannual financial framework so as to “highlight the points of convergence” between the two countries.
French Minister Delegate for Europe Benjamin Haddad will visit Berlin on Wednesday and Thursday, 2 and 3 July, to launch this seminar, which will be composed of representatives from both countries’ foreign ministries and finance ministries and will be supported by think tanks such as the Schuman Foundation, the Bertelsmann Foundation, the Jacques Delors Centre in Berlin, and the Science and Politics Foundation (Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik in German).
The two countries whose position papers on the post-2027 MFF we published—France (see EUROPE 13599/6) and Germany (see EUROPE 13660/16)—give “the same priority to defence and competitiveness”, according to the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.
Arguing that it is necessary to “strengthen [the EU’s] strategic autonomy on all fronts”, the ministry announced that Benjamin Haddad would raise the issue of the EU’s new own resources (NORs). At the end of May—during the annual conference on the EU budget that the European Commission had organised—the minister had already declared that adopting NORs would be vital (see EUROPE 13645/30).
This seminar is part of the preparations for the Franco-German Council of Ministers (CMFA) meeting, which will be held in France at the end of the summer. During this meeting, the two States will be able to discuss the post-2027 MFF, whose first ‘package’ is expected on 16 July (see EUROPE 13667/29). (Original version in French by Florent Servia)