Meeting in the General Affairs Council on Tuesday 24 February, the EU27 ministers responsible for European affairs prepared for the European Council on 19 and 20 March by examining an annotated draft agenda.
The future 2028-2034 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) – for which the European Commission put forward a proposal in July (see EUROPE 13682/1) – is one of the main items.
European ministers discussed the state of negotiations, taking into account the challenges facing the European Union, relating to support for Ukraine, competitiveness, defence, security and migration management. According to the Cyprus Presidency, the March discussion should provide “strategic guidance” to steer the technical work underway within the horizontal working party on the MFF and sectoral formations.
“I expect the leaders’ discussion to enable us, as Presidency of the Council, to advance ongoing work on negotiation, engaged with figures, indicative figures by the end of our term”, said the Cypriot Deputy Minister for European Affairs, Marilena Raouna.
The aim is to present “a balanced, mature negotiating box with indicative figures in June”.
While guidelines are expected in March, the question of resources and budgetary balances will be a major issue in the following months.
The European Summit agenda: https://aeur.eu/f/kt2 (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)