Guenther Oettinger – Google – Photo EC
(BRUSSELS) – In its fifth reflection paper on the future of the European Union, published Wednesday, the Commission looks at options for financing the EU budget following the departure of the United Kingdom.
“If Europe is to tackle new challenges, the money must come from somewhere, said Budget Commission Guenther H. Oettinger: “We can either spend less or find new revenues. But whatever we do, each Euro invested from the EU budget must add value and have a positive impact on people’s daily lives.”
The EU budget faces a tough challenge to fund more with less following Brexit. The EU is expected to play a bigger role in new policy areas such as the refugee crisis, security concerns, cyber-threats and terrorism as well as defence require pan- European responses.
And the Commission says Europe should also ‘preserve its leading role on the global stage, as a major humanitarian and development aid donor and as a leader of the fight against climate change’.
This would need to be achieved within an EU budget that is destined to smaller following the departure of the UK.
The withdrawal of the United Kingdom would mean losing an important partner and contributor to the fnancing of EU policies and programmes.
Today’s reflection paper looks at this challenge and puts the key elements for discussion on the table, structured around the five scenarios of the White Paper: will the EU simply carry on, do less together, move ahead at different levels of intensity, do less but more efficiently or do much more together?
Each of these illustrative scenarios would have different consequences – both in terms of how much to spend for what purpose, and on where the money could come from. Options range from reducing spending for existing policies to increasing revenues.
In addition, the reflection paper sets out the basic features of the EU budget and charts the principal trends and developments in key policy areas like cohesion or agriculture. It also addresses over-arching issues like the added value of EU funding or the articulation between EU funding and structural reforms in Member States.
The multiannual financial framework lays down the maximum annual amounts which the EU may spend each year in different policy fields over a period of at least 5 years. The current multiannual financial framework covers the period from 2014 to 2020. Each annual budget must comply with this framework.
Reflection paper the future of EU finances (28 June 2017)
Multiannual Financial Framework (2014-2020)
