“Today marks an important victory for the European Parliament in defending farmers and the regions”, said a delighted Siegfried Mureşan MEP (EPP, Romanian) on Monday 10 November, referring to the changes proposed by the European Commission to the EU’s next long-term budget.
The day before, the European Commission shared a letter to the Council of the EU and the Parliament outlining the proposed changes, in response to demands from the European Parliament, which threatened to reject the national and regional partnership plans of the Multiannual Financial Framework 2028-2034 (see EUROPE 13742/1).
CAP and CFP. Faced with fears of a reduced Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in the next MFF, the European Commission is proposing to add to the minimum amount for the CAP (€300 billion) a cross-cutting “rural objective” of at least 10% of the funds in the national and regional partnership plans.
The European Commission is proposing to transfer certain articles currently included in the NRP Regulation to the CAP Regulation, “while preserving the integrated programming [of the CAP] within the NRP Regulation”.
Fisheries will also be able to benefit from the rural objective, outside the amounts reserved for it under the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). In addition, the European Commission has proposed that “the amount earmarked for the CFP” should be “clearly indicated” in national plans.
The role of the regions. The European Parliament, like the Committee of the Regions, feared that the role of the regions would be diminished in the new structure of the MFF, embodied here by its pillar 1, dedicated to national and regional partnership plans.
In response, the European Commission is proposing that regional management authorities “interact directly with [it]”, “when the plan includes regional and territorial chapters”. Another new feature is that these regional authorities will be invited to participate with the European Commission and each Member State in annual meetings to review the plan’s performance. The Commission is also proposing to include “regional control” in the requirements of the national and regional partnership plans.
In general terms, the Commission wants to include the following sentence in its proposal: “Regional and local authorities must be fully involved in the preparation, implementation and evaluation of the NRP plan”.
The European Commission has also agreed to make the funding allocated to the regions more visible, by limiting Member States’ cuts to Cohesion Funds to a maximum of 25% compared with the previous period, without any justification proving positive developments in the regions (economic disparities, demographic changes, etc.)
A more involved European Parliament? The changes made to the above priorities are considered positive by the co-rapporteur for the MFF, Siegried Mureşan. On the other hand, those relating to the role of Parliament in the process remain inadequate, in his view.
The Commission has provided more details on the role that the European Parliament will play in the guidance mechanism for national and regional partnership plans. The guidance mechanism should enable budget priorities to be re-identified each year.
The European Commission insists that a budgetary trilogue will be held each year before the adoption of its draft budget plan, thus giving Parliament a role in setting priorities.
These changes are “insignificant”, according to the S&D budget coordinator, French MEP Jean-Marc Germain, who insists that the Parliament “already produces guidelines for the annual budget”.
S&D and Renew Europe recognise the efforts made by the European Commission as a step in the right direction. However, this in no way detracts from the criticism levelled at “the philosophy of budget renationalisation”, which “is not optimal”, according to French MEP and budget coordinator for Renew Europe, Fabienne Keller. The S&D side considers that the amendments are “cosmetic”.
Parliament will decide at a Bureau meeting on Wednesday whether to keep the rejection of national and regional partnership plans on the agenda. A resolution could be put to the vote in the Chamber (see EUROPE 13746/23).
On Monday 10 November, following a meeting with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, the Danish Presidency of the Council of the European Union announced that many of the proposals in the Commission’s document coincide with suggestions made by the Member States as part of the ongoing negotiations on the MFF.
National and regional partnership plans will be on the agenda of the General Affairs Council on Monday 17 November. These exchanges between Member States should lead to the presentation of a draft “negotiating framework” before the December European Council (see EUROPE 13732/21).
See the Commission’s proposals: https://aeur.eu/f/jda
See the letter to Roberta Metsola and the Danish Presidency: https://aeur.eu/f/jdb (Original version in French by Florent Servia)