On 21 July 2020, the Council of the European Union (1) in the presence of the representatives of the governments of the 27 Member States reached a multi-annual agreement for a total of 1824.3 billion euros combining both the Multiannual Financial Framework (hereinafter referred to as MFF) of 1074.3 billion euros and the NEXT GENERATION EU (NGEU) funding package of 750 billion euros aimed at the recovery of Member States after COVID19 which will be composed of:
1) instruments to support Member States’ efforts to recover from the crisis, overcome its effects and re-emerge stronger;
2) measures to stimulate private investment and support businesses in difficulty;
3) strengthening EU strategic programmes to learn lessons from the crisis and make the single market stronger and more resilient and accelerate the dual green and digital transition.
The MFF will cover the following main areas of expenditure:
– single market, innovation and digital: € 132.8 billion, including the Horizon Europe programmes and the Invest EU fund;
– cohesion, resilience and values: €377.8 billion includes Cohesion Policy Funds (policy cohesion fund), Recovery and Resilience Facility (Recovery and Resilience Facility), Union Civil protection mechanism (RescEu) and Health programme;
– Natural resources and environment: €356.4 billion includes Common Agricultural Fund and Just Transition Fund;
– migration and border management: €22.7 billion includes the Asylum and Migration Fund and the Integrated Border Management Fund;
– Security and Defence: 13.2 billion euros includes the European Defence Fund (European Defence Fund) and the Internal Security Fund (Internal Security Fund);
– Neighbourhood and the World: 98.4 billion euros includes the Neighbourhood Development & International Cooperation Instrument (Neighbourhood Development & International Cooperation Instrument INDICATES) and the Humanitarian Aid Instrument (Humanitarian Aid Instrument);
– European Public Administration: 73.1 billion euro addressed to the European Public Administration.
The Heads of Government of the European Member States have also agreed that 30% of the total expenditure of the MFF and the Next Generation EU will be allocated to climate related projects. Expenditure under the MFF and the Next Generation EU will be in line with the EU’s climate neutrality objective by 2050, the EU’s climate objectives for 2030 and the Paris agreement.
Finally, they have been defined:
1) the Single Margin Instrument (SMI) to allow the financing of unforeseen expenditure in commitments and payments that could not be financed otherwise. The annual ceiling of the SMI will be set at EUR 772 million;
and three instruments to provide financial resources in case of specific unforeseen events:
2) Brexit adjustment reserve to support Member States and economic sectors most affected by Brexit (EUR 5 billion) ;
3) European Globalisation Adjustment Fund to support workers who lose their jobs in globalisation-related restructuring events (EUR 1.3 billion);
4) Solidarity and Emergency Aid Reserve (SEAR) to respond to emergency situations arising from major disasters in Member States and acceding countries, and to respond rapidly to specific emergency needs within the EU or in third countries (€1.2 billion).
Flat-rate reductions on the annual contribution based on gross national income will be maintained for Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Sweden.
According to the Treaties by virtue of the functions carried out by the individual European institutions, the agreement must then be approved by the European Parliament, which votes on the Union’s budget and, in fact, on 23 July 2020, plenary day in Strasbourg, this agreement was presented, MEPs did not agree on the cuts made to the EU flagship programmes on climate, digital transition, health, youth, culture, infrastructure, research, border management and solidarity as they are at risk of “an immediate drop in funding from 2020 to 2021″(2) so the agreement has not yet received the full approval of the European Parliament.
Ines Caloisi
(italian version inescaloisi.it)
Sources
(1)https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/meetings/european-council/2020/07/17-21/
(2) https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/it/press-room/20200722IPR83804/accordo-su-bilancio-ue-deve-essere-migliorato-per-essere-approvato
https://ec.europa.eu/info/live-work-travel-eu/health/coronavirus-response/recovery-plan-europe_it