Unsurprisingly, President of the European Parliament David Sassoli called Friday “unsatisfactory“the proposal put forward by Charles Michel as a compromise for a European MFF (multiannual financial framework) 2021-2027. If the leaders of the 27 do not”improve“No, the European assembly will not give it the green light, he warns already.
The proposal presented “is far removed from what is necessary to adequately finance old and new EU programs“, reacts the Italian in the evening via press release.
With a budgetary framework allowing commitments for a total of 1.074% of the gross national income (GNI) of the EU of 27, the President of the European Council puts forward a future budget of much smaller scale than what the Parliament defends argues for a manager at 1.3% of GNI. The Commission proposal is also higher, but it gets stuck at the level of the Member States which will have to loosen the purse strings or fear a revision of their “discount“.
For several months, Parliament has for its part warned against the temptation to consider an overly tight budget, while Europe wants to be at the forefront of the ecological and digital transition while maintaining strong historic policies and advancing a Commission “geostrategic“as Ursula von der Leyen regularly reminds us.
With this in mind, the proposal “contradicts the ambitions proclaimed with regard to three priorities that the member states themselves – and not the Parliament – have placed at the center of their vision: the climate, digitalization and the geopolitical dimension“, summarizes David Sassoli. She”risks leaving Europe lagging behind in terms of its own objectives but also in relation to other actors on the international scene, such as China and the United States“.
Besides, the figures put forward by the Belgian “do not differ greatly from the proposal of the Finnish Presidency (of the Council of the EU, until last December, Editor’s note), on which the European Parliament has already expressed itself clearly and by a very large majority“, adds Sassoli.
The press release concludes with a firm warning: “I call on the heads of state and government to make every effort to improve (the proposal) for the summit of February 20“dedicated to this multi-year budget,”because otherwise Parliament will not be able to accept it“.
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