Analysis of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2014-2020

https://infoeuropa.eurocid.pt/registo/000047458/documento/0001/

This paper analyses and compares the European Commission’s prosposals for the next Multiannual Financial Framework with the Committee of the Regions’ (CoR) recent opinion on ‘The EU Budget Review’, highlighting potential divergences but also areas of agreement to be exploited during the negotiations. To assess the position of the CoR, the paper also takes into account its previous opinions. In addition, the paper discusses the position of the European Parliament, which appears to correspond closely to the main features of the Commission’s suggested budget.
Given the risk of budget stalemate inherent in the upcoming budget negotiations, Zuleeg and Molino suggest that the CoR’s role should be to ensure that the original measures proposed by the Commission are not watered down, such as the total amount of resources for the EU budget (1% GNI in payments), increased investment in pan-European infrastructure and enhanced environmental criteria for direct payments in the Common Agricultural Policy. The authors also stress that the CoR needs to strongly voice its opposition to any macroeconomic conditionality, which could imply the suspension of cohesion funding. Such a suspension could well result from changes to the EU’s economic governance, and in particular from reform of the Stability and Growth Pact. [editor]