Debate: System of own resources of the European Union
Date: TUESDAY, 22 NOVEMBER 2022
Speaker: Johannes Hahn
Language: EN

I am glad to see that the Parliament supports our first package of own resources and I would in particular thank the two rapporteurs for their tireless push of this topic and I’m grateful for this huge backing because it is definitely necessary if we look at the, let’s say, progress on this debate. Because as it was said by the two speakers and the two rapporteurs, we need a new stream of new own resources for the EU budget to ensure that future generations don’t bear the costs of NextGenerationEU borrowing and who will benefit from it.  Why is this important? In a context of rising interest rate costs, financing NGEU debt will become more expensive than initially expected. Credible repayment of NGEU via new own resources is therefore also a litmus test for the Union to remain on the path of sustainable public finance.  But new own resources are also required to ensure the sustainable financing of the social climate fund, helping households and small and medium-sized enterprises. Thanks to the efforts of the French Presidency and an agreement between Member States, it was possible to reach an agreement between Member States on both the revised ETS directive and the CBAM regulation last summer.  At the same time, the European Parliament has adopted its reports on both proposals before the summer negotiations and both files are currently ongoing and progressing between the two institutions. This paved the way for continuing the discussions on our new own resources proposal. I welcome the progress made on the technical level under the Czech Presidency.  It will be difficult to reach an agreement on new own resources before a final agreement between Parliament and Council on the sectoral proposals is reached. However, we must keep in mind the own resource dimension and the principle of universality. No own resource should be earmarked to cover a specific type of expenditure.  As regards the sectoral legislation, let me share with you some observations.  First, on the carbon border adjustment mechanism. Negotiations on the appropriate governance mechanism are still ongoing, but the more centralised governance model seems to be the wish of Parliament and Council. This has important repercussions on own resources.  On the one hand, the Union budget share on CBAM revenues need to increase compared to the 75% that was proposed by the Commission based on a decentralised governance model. On the other hand, a centralised governance model has an important impact on the EU administration’s staffing needs.  As you know, the Commission honours the stable staffing principle. We will need to be creative and find ad hoc solutions. In your report you propose that 100% of CBAM revenues go to the EU budget. But for this we have to clarify the governance of CBAM. On the ETS own resources and the underlying sectoral proposal, negotiations between co-legislators are progressing. As you know, the Commission proposal foresaw the financing of the social climate fund from new own resources. We welcome that both institutions agree with the objective to finance the social climate fund via the general and Union budget under the next MFF if there is agreement on a new own resource based on ETS covering road transport and buildings.  Finally, on the OECD Pillar 1 agreement, the OECD has announced that the draft of the multilateral convention would be delayed. This delay in the schedule will have again repercussions on the proposal for an EU directive on the implementation of the OECD global agreement on the relocation of taxing rights, the basis for our own resource based on profits of large multinationals.  Rest assured, the Commission will carefully monitor the process at international level concerning the Pillar 1 agreement and will take appropriate measures in relation to own resources in case Pillar 1 will not succeed.  So I’m confident that we can make further progress in the upcoming months, and we are looking forward to engaging further with you.