While EU Member States agreed at the European Council on 18 December that “an agreement before the end of 2026 would allow for the adoption of legislative acts in 2027 - which is necessary to ensure that EU funds reach beneficiaries without interruption in January 2028” (see EUROPE 13776/4), the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union begins a decisive six-month period for negotiations on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2028-2034.
The Cyprus Presidency took office on 1 January and, according to its programme presented on 21 December, aims to draw up a negotiating framework with indicative figures by June 2026, while making progress towards partial general approaches on the main regulations of the 2028-2034 MFF.
Cyprus has taken up the work begun by the previous Danish Presidency, whose draft negotiating framework (‘negotiating box’) (see EUROPE 13774/25) is intended to define the political and technical points to be decided in the coming months.
This document therefore forms the basis for the work of the Cyprus Presidency, which aims to “significantly advance negotiations on all sectoral legislative files of the proposed 2028-2034 MFF”.
In addition to the budgets, the Cyprus Presidency will be working on the overall architecture of the budget. The draft drawn up by the Danish Presidency provides for a simplified structure, organised around four main headings - cohesion and internal security, competitiveness, external action and administration - as well as improved flexibility mechanisms to respond to crises.
According to the schedule of ministerial meetings to be held this semester, on 17 March the Ministers responsible for European Affairs are due to hold an initial policy debate on the main regulations of the 2028-2034 MFF package. Their meeting will focus in particular on the regulations relating to the national and regional partnership plans, the future European Competitiveness Fund and the ‘Europe in the World’ instrument, which is the single framework for the EU’s external action.
This discussion is scheduled to take place ahead of the European Council meeting on 19 and 20 March, when the General Affairs Council will prepare the conclusions.
The 2028-2034 MFF will also be on the agenda on 26 May, when the General Affairs Council will hold another political debate to take stock of the state of negotiations and reconcile the positions of the Member States.
On 16 June, in Luxembourg, the Ministers of the Member States responsible for European affairs are due to adopt partial general approaches on several texts of the 2028-2034 MFF, including the regulations on the national and regional partnership plans, the European Competitiveness Fund and the ‘Europe in the World’ instrument. These decisions are intended to consolidate a sufficiently advanced negotiating framework ahead of the discussions at the European Council on 18 and 19 June.
Links to the Presidency programme and ministerial meetings: https://aeur.eu/f/k4d ; https://aeur.eu/f/k5o (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)