The Cyprus EU Presidency has been given the mandate to finalise negotiations on the EU Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). The main discussion will take place at the November European Council convened by President Herman Van Rompuy on the 22nd and 23rd of November with the aim of reaching a political agreement.
Despite the fact that a decision on the EU Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) will have to be concluded in November, EU Member States (MSs) Ministers have yet to have an in-depth debate on the uses and purposes of EU funds. What the Cypriot Presidency made clear was that reductions on all headings and elements to the Commission’s proposal on the MFF are needed in order to reach an agreement.
The exchange of views at ministerial level went forward on the basis of the revised ‘negotiating box’ (without figures). Several MSs disagreed with the “inevitable” downward adjustment. It was the case of the Group known as the ‘Friends of Cohesion’ and in particular, Portugal, Poland Italy, Spain and Belgium who insisted on the need of better spending and questioned if spending less would achieve the goal of better quality spending. The ‘Friends of Better Spending’ group welcomed the recognition that reductions would have to be made.
After months of a number of MSs calling for significant cuts to the European Commission proposal of at least €100 billion, at the General Affairs Council of 24 September Sweden, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom announced they were looking at cuts of €150 billion. David Lidington, the British EU affairs minister, called for a freeze in real terms to the current Multiannual Financial Framework. Prior to the summit, the European Parliament negotiating team met with the Cypriot Presidency and reiterated the Parliament’s position that all EU policy areas are necessary to fulfil Treaty obligations, and that the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty gives the EU new competences.
Following the EU General Affairs Council, the Cypriot Deputy Minister for European Affairs, Andreas Mavroyiannis, said that the Presidency’s next revised negotiating box will include concrete figures, and will not be presented before the October European Council. From a transparency perspective, this gives the public a short period of time to discuss the purpose and use of EU funds.
The Vice-President of the Commission, and Commissioner for Inter-Institutional Relations and Administration, Maros Sefcovic, said that the Commission welcomed the Cyprus EU Presidency’s negotiating box and stressed the need to achieve good progress before the November European Council. He also expressed the Commission’s rejection of a reduction in all allocations to individual headings.
The General Affairs Council ended without Ministers committing to a 20% allocation on climate action, the poverty reduction ring fencing of the European Social fund, or the modernization of the CAP to deliver safe and healthy food, as announced by President Barroso when he released the Multiannual Financial Framework. The Commission aimed to mainstream priorities in certain policy areas, such as climate action, environment, consumer policy, health and fundamental rights to achieve multiple objectives in these areas. Yet, only Birgitta Ohlsson, Swedish Minister for EU affairs, spoke about gender mainstreaming.
Another unanticipated move was that several countries made interventions to keep the Common Agricultural Policy running at the levels proposed by the Commission (led by France and Ireland with the support of Germany, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Greece, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Romania and Spain) in an effort to protect the level of funds they receive from direct payments (EU Pillar 1 – European Communities).
Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Luxembourg, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland and Slovenia sought to defend their rural development money (EU Pillar 2 – Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP)) on the “past performance principle” in a non-paper published during the ministerial meeting.
Next Steps
The General Affairs Council will again meet twice (16 October in Luxembourg and 20 November in Brussels) before the November European Council. After the European Council of 18-19 October, the Presidency intends to issue a newly revised negotiating box with some ranges of figures. The President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, will hold bilateral consultations starting from 5 November.
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