The European Commission welcomes the historic agreement of the European Council to for the first ever revision of the Multiannual Financial Framework’s ceilings. The Council’s agreement confirms all priorities of the Commission’s proposal and covers 80% of the requested financing. This reinforcement will allow the EU to continue delivering on our common priorities, benefiting the people in our Union and beyond.
The key elements addressed by the revision include:
- Critical support for Ukraine: A new Ukraine facility, based on grants, loans and guarantees, with an overall capacity of €50 billion in the period 2024-2027 will cater for Ukraine’s immediate needs, recovery and modernisation on its path towards the EU.
- Further action on migration and external challenges: A reinforcement of €9.6 billion will support the internal and external dimensions of migration, and help partners in the Western Balkans, southern neighbourhood and beyond.
- Strengthening sovereignty and competitiveness: The Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) will promote the EU’s long-term competitiveness on critical technologies, in the fields of digital and deep tech, clean tech and biotech with new flexibilities and incentives for cohesion funding and the Recovery and Resilience Facility, and a top-up of €1.5 billion of the European Defence Fund.
- Stronger response to unforeseen challenges: the EU budget was mobilised to address repeated crises since 2021 – the energy crisis, food crises and the aftermath of Russia’s war amid rising inflation and interest costs. To make sure that the EU budget can continue to respond to unforeseen circumstances the Flexibility Instrument will be reinforced by €2 billion while the maximum amount of the Solidarity and Emergency Aid Reserve will be increased by €1.5 billion and split in two separate instruments: the European Solidarity Reserve and the Emergency Aid Reserve.
- A three-step mechanism to be used in case of emergency and a new instrument will give clarity on the budgetary mechanisms for the financing of the NextGenerationEU related costs.
The financing of the revision will be provided through a combination of fresh resources and redeployments within the EU budget. This will allow the EU to continue acting on the most pressing priorities while minimising the impact on national budgets.
Source: European Commission | Press Corner (https://shorturl.at/rswH2)