“I am absolutely convinced that we can manage to conclude an agreement by the end of the year, because it is necessary”, stated Thomas Byrne, Ireland’s Minister of State for European Affairs, on Thursday 3 September in Dublin, ahead of a General Affairs Council (GAC) devoted to the 2028-2034 European budgetary framework (see EUROPE 13929/19). That next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) was thus discussed for the first time on Thursday afternoon by the 27 ministers responsible for European affairs and will be discussed again, in greater depth, on Friday morning.
This so-called ‘informal’ meeting marks the start of a key sequence for the Irish Presidency, which will present its own ‘negotiating box’ in early October, after a further General Affairs Council on 22 September in Brussels. “It is crucial that we begin to see where compromises can be found and where red lines are really drawn”, urged Thomas Byrne, who will in parallel conclude a series of bilateral talks with each of his counterparts next week.
Meanwhile, the ministers who one after the other spoke into the microphones in Dublin on Thursday, appeared to keep repeating the same national positions adopted for months on the EU budget for 2028-2034.
“The European Commission’s proposal, if you allow me, is pure fantasy”, said Germany’s Minister of State for the EU, Gunther Krichbaum, considering it impossible for Germany to massively increase its national contribution, given its unfavourable economic situation and budget deficit. The Christian Democrat reiterated the call from the so-called ‘frugal’ countries for “hundreds of billions of euros in cuts” within the draft MFF, targeting first and foremost the agricultural funds of the CAP.
At the other end of the spectrum, Spain’s State Secretary, Fernando Sampedro, considered any potential additional cut to be “out of the question”. This representative of Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist government proposed using three “tools at our disposal to keep national contributions stable while increasing the budget”: more progressive repayment (‘roll-over’) of the debt stemming from the post-Covid-19 recovery plan, the issuance of new common borrowing and the creation of own resources.
The French minister, Benjamin Haddad, once again strongly insisted on the creation of these new own resources, while showing himself open to future cuts in the part of the European budget allocated to EU administration (Heading 4) (see EUROPE 13920/10).
Despite the polarisation of the debate (see EUROPE 13913/12), the European Commissioner for Budget, Piotr Serafin, for his part, struck an optimistic note: “I can see, and I can feel, a great deal of excitement. (...) If you are looking for signs of optimism, I would say that it is precisely the level of emotion - sometimes negative, I must admit - accompanying this meeting that shows that negotiations are truly under way”, he noted off microphone.
On Thursday, during this first budget discussion, several representatives of the European Parliament joined the ministers, including Romanian conservative Siegfried Mureşan, co-rapporteur on the MFF. “Some Member States expect the EU to do more on competitiveness, security and defence, while simultaneously calling for cuts in its resources. You cannot ask Europe to do more while giving it less”, lamented this EPP member.
And the MEP concluded: “Today’s discussion is also an opportunity to clarify one point: the MFF cannot be adopted without the agreement of the European Parliament”. The latter “will under no circumstances approve a budget that does not meet the needs of European citizens”, Mr Mureşan warned. (Original version in French by Clément Solal)