Debate: Conclusions of the special European Council meeting of  February  on the Multiannual Financial framework
Date: TUESDAY, 10 MARCH 2020
Speaker: Maroš Šefčovič
Language: EN

It would of course be excellent, and in the interest of European citizens, if today we could discuss the achievement of the European Council in reaching agreement on the long-term budget, to allow you to scrutinise the results and move forward. We all know that this was not to be, and this is of course disappointing. The failure to agree will now, in any event, mean that many programmes can at best only be implemented very partially next year. However, looking at the history of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), it has always needed at least two European summits to find an agreement. It will therefore be crucial to make the second summit a success and to do it quickly. We, the European Commission, call on leaders to draw lessons, not just from their deliberations but also from your contribution and, most of all, from the challenges in the real world that have been intensifying in recent days and have been on stark display on the borders of the European Union. It is time for realism, reason and responsibility. Realism first. I have seen how difficult the discussions are. It is therefore now high time that all deepen their sense of some of the realities that should govern our work. That requires recognising the following things. First, we are facing a financial gap caused by Brexit of EUR 75 billion euros. This means that we all need to face up to this reality. Member States’ contributions to the budget will have to rise, while expenditure will have to be constrained. Secondly, like the European Parliament, the Commission is also convinced that we need a budget tailored to achieving our common goals with a sufficient overall size. Follow this logic and we will fail to deliver on what citizens expect, while national budgets will simply end up having to pay these costs. We know that this is the road that leads nowhere. Crucially, we cannot close our eyes to the challenges in the real world that we need to address together. The challenges for migration and borders, for treating people in wretched circumstances with a minimum of human dignity, need no further illustrations after last week’s events. Leaders from right across the Union have pleaded for the European approach. Yet, in the negotiations on the MFF, these very same leaders are limiting funds available for borders, migration and external action. This is simply not acceptable. The MFF is not an accounting exercise or a simple numbers game. This is about equipping the Union with the resources needed to solve real-life problems and, may I add, save real lives. That reality will need to sink in much deeper as we approach the next round, and we in the Commission will not accept an outcome that does not reflect this. Having our common priorities in mind, we have no time to lose. It is truly time for reason and cool-headedness. At this moment we have three options: the better, the suboptimal and the worst. The better option is reaching a balanced agreement very soon. This is still possible, but we are already very late. Last time we achieved a deal in the Council in early February and the final agreement only in December. Therefore, 2014 meant a lost year for some programmes, something we need to avoid this time. But that also implies that, even in our best case scenario, we are already under massive time pressure. Many of our policies will at best restart at the end of 2021. The better scenario therefore is already one that will come with serious challenges. The suboptimal option would be a contingency plan, rolling forward existing budget programmes for another year. I know that many of you have been asking for this since it would buy more time. But let me be very clear about the consequences. It would mean additional ‘mini’ MFF negotiations running in parallel with all the contentious issues on the table, the very same things that are blocking progress on the MFF. Attempting to find a solution along these lines would therefore absorb everyone’s time, energy and focus, while we need all efforts to find a good agreement on the actual long-term budget soon. It might well fail, in which case we end up with no result. Even if it didn’t fail, what type of answer to structural challenges such as climate change, digitisation and external policies could we give with a one-year budget? What would this do for the credibility of the European Union? Worst of all, it would result in a budget without response to the new challenges: no Just Transition Fund, no InvestEU, no defence and digital agenda, and a lower climate ambition. The third option is the worst—case scenario. No agreement would have severe consequences for all Europeans since it would leave us with a budget on life support, only allowing a limited number of policies to be funded. How could we explain to students that there is no Erasmus? How could we tell the regions that there is no cohesion money? How would we explain to the citizens that Europe is unable to act when it comes to climate and digital challenges, or that it lacks the means to protect our common borders effectively? No agreement in time would damage us all. Now is therefore the time for responsibility, to do everything to reach a good agreement as soon as possible. To achieve this we need to work together. As the Commission, we engaged with you from the beginning and we encouraged the Member States to listen to the European Parliament. We also agree with you that we need new resources to fund our ambitions. They are the win—win solution which might help to find a compromise. When President von der Leyen presented the agenda for a Europe that strives for more, you, as well as the Member States, promised the necessary support. Now is the time to give Europe the means to strive for more and to equip ourselves with sufficient shared resources. It is the time for everybody to recognise this and to stand up for realism, reason and responsibility. We need an agreement on the next long—term EU budget to secure the necessary funds to be able to act together, and we need this agreement fast. We in the European Commission know that we can count on you. Let us work together with the European Council to make this long—term budget a success for Europe and all Europeans.