European Headlines

Battle for the EU Budget

This week de Volkskrant discusses the negotiating process around the next EU budget. Netherlands, Denmark, Austria and Germany have complained that they pay more to the EU than other member states and receive the least. According to the Commission, however, the richest countries pay the least compared to their national income.

 

At stake now is the multiannual budget for 2021-2027, which was last proposed to be 1.279 billion euros to be divided among the 27 member states. The budget still needs to be approved by the EU Parliament. EC President Juncker has described this amount as the “absolute minimum” for current EU needs. Members urge more money to be granted for research, climate policies, surveillance of external borders and reception of migrants.

 

However, there is a major factor for decreasing the EU budget– Brexit. One member less means one large contributor less - meaning the Netherlands will have to increase its contribution to the EU starting next year. Despite the cost, it is worth bearing in mind that the European internal market provides the Netherlands with 10% higher income. Full article in Dutch:


50% rise for Bulgaria

Capital writes that Bulgarian contribution to the EU budget is expected to rise to 680 million euros per year – a 50% increase. Including EU traditional own resources, the Bulgarian share is actually 90 million euros higher.

 

A reason for this jump is the deduction of 20% of national revenues from the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. This measure was taken to fill the post-Brexit gap in the EU budget. The proposed multiannual 2021-2027 budget was supposed to be approved by the end of this year, however at the moment the process is still at an early phase.

 

From the 2021-2027 budget, Bulgaria will benefit from external border funds, for example, while subsidies for research will go to Germany.

 

Capital concludes that due to EU funds and open Western markets, Eastern European economies are rapidly growing and attracting investment from Western Europe. Full article in Bulgarian:


Orbán and a fair budget

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán calls for a fair EU budget, Híradó reports. According to Orbán, the rebate system must be abolished because the calculation of the refunds does not account for what each Member State pays in gross national product. He believes what Central Europeans receive as a source largely goes back to Western European Member States.

 

Funds for the Horizon programme, aimed to support research, are also disproportionate – only 5% of the resources go to new EU members, says the prime minister.

 

He also finds it unfair that Hungary has to give 2.5% of their GDP in order to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. The Hungarian PM would like to see a source of funding for a carbon-efficient economy reflected in the new multiannual budget, concludes the article. Full article in Hungarian:


Tough talks

Irish Times discusses how if the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) is approved by all Member States, the Irish contribution will grow to €760 million a year more – a 10% increase of their gross national income.

 

On Tuesday the European Commission presented the proposed MFF for 2021-2027, but full unanimity from all EU leaders is needed for the MFF to be approved. Which looks unlikely – the plan was greeted with criticism from many EU members.

 

Currently, Ireland benefits every year from its ability to trade freely across the EU, earning ten times its annual contributions: about €30.7 billion. The figure is still quite low compared to what Germany and France take in, which is about five times their total EU contributions.

 

One of the biggest issues of the proposed plan includes an average annual increase, over seven years, of the daily cost of the EU to individual citizens. This means an increase in some of the Member States’ contributions.

 

Cuts in the budget are foreseen to come from farm spending and cohesion funding, which are the largest EU spending programmes. However, this decision was met with disapproval from the countries of the “Friends of Cohesion” group, made up of 14 Member States. Full article in English: