“Competitiveness, Security and Defense, without retreating from the Union’s successful social policies, the orientation of the Multiannual Financial Framework 2028-2034” said the Commissioner BudgetAnti-Fraud and EU Public Administration Piotr Serafin briefing the European and Economic Affairs Committees on his proposals Commission.
Mr. Serafin pointed out that the long-term European budget is not just about numbers, but mainly and primarily about political and strategic choices, about where we want and where we should invest together, as proposed by the Commission in its proposals for the Multiannual Financial Framework 2028-2034.
The Commissioner noted that the context in which the long-term budget should be developed is the geopolitical changes that have occurred mainly since 2022 with Russia’s attack on Ukraine and the importance that the ability of Europeans to defend themselves has acquired, as well as how our global competitors China and the USA are developing. These changes, said Mr. Serafin, do not mean that the successful policies of the CAP and EU cohesion should retreat and continue to be the main pillars, if and, as he noted, the areas we want to develop the most are in our competitiveness, security and Defense.
On cohesion policies and the CAP he said that they are two areas that will continue to be very strong. The proposal envisages an increase of 1.26% of the Gross National Income of the EU in relation to what we have today (1.13%) and indeed it is not very large because we should have in mind the budgetary situation of the EU Member States
On the policies being developed for the national and regional partnership plans, Mr. Serafin said that it is to bring together investments and reforms under a single framework. That is, to connect cohesion – fisheries – security – immigration – border management – agriculture and social policy. This total envelope, the Commissioner said, will amount to 865 billion euros for these projects. Mr. Serafin said that the reform proposed in the proposals is that these plans are based on national files decided for each of the Member States, but that they are given more freedom in how to spend this money. That is, instead of 52 spending programs, with different legal bases, proficiency criteria, different implementation schedules, it is proposed to reduce the number of spending programs so that the beneficiaries have flexibility and at the same time there is more transparency in the EU Budget. These national and regional partnership plans, said the Commissioner, will be formulated and implemented in close cooperation between the European Commission, the Member States, the Regions, the local communities and other stakeholders. According to this strategy, Mr. Serafin said, Greece will be free to organize its own projects in the regions it prefers as it does today and with the cohesion policy, but with a decisive element of the connection between investment and reform.
For the CAP, the Commissioner said that the proposals are driven by the need to find a balance between predictability of income support for our farmers and flexibility in Member States and Regions on how they decide to invest in rural areas. For income support it is proposed to have limited amounts so that they are guaranteed and this total amount in the EU budget will be 296 billion euros, in various forms, which will concern the income support of farmers and fishermen. For the demarcation and guarantee in the agricultural sector, here lies the issue of intervention in rural markets in times of crisis and what is proposed is to double the relevant fund available annually for rural interventions, to 900 million euros per year. Mr. Serafin rejected that there are cuts in the CAP saying that what exists today in the proposals in nominal terms in terms of income support for farmers is guaranteed, while more leeway is provided to the Member States as to how they will decide how much and in what form they want to invest in rural areas (in water resources management, social services, etc.), thus providing opportunities for synergies with other sectors as well.
For the management of crises and natural disasters, the Commissioner said that here too another reform of the tool of the European mechanism is being introduced which comes to complement the national plans by providing help for flexibility in dealing with these crises. And the relevant budget will be three times the amount applicable to environmental crises, so that the EU has the ability to react.
For the Competitiveness Fund, Mr. Serafin said, it is proposed to invest over 400 billion euros over the next seven years in common competitiveness. The Commissioner acknowledged that there are concerns linked to the geographical balance, but said that I think it is a European obligation to remain as much as possible in the logic of excellence so that we can remain involved in global competitiveness together with China and the USA. There are already mechanisms that have been proposed by the Commission such as the HORIZON program, which concerns research and development. He pointed out that the focus of the Competitiveness Fund is to scale up and implement the many ideas so that they can enter the market and be sold.
For Defense and Space, the Commissioner said that these programs should also be approached from the perspective of competitiveness. The ambition of the budget, Mr. Serafin said, is not for the European budget to replace the budgetary expenditure of the State budgets of each member in Defense, but we want to increase the expenditure to 131 billion euros at the EU level. This targeting, he noted, is that we want to make sure that the money of the European budget for Defense will also serve European innovation and European jobs. To encourage collaborations between the Member States, as well as the industries of the Member States. These projects should not be financed by a single State. The Commissioner, in the context of Defense, also raised the promotion of technological and satellite systems, as well as dual-use and service infrastructure investments.
For the Global Europe financing tool, he said €200 billion was earmarked to help the EU build stronger partnerships, while also focusing more on enlargement.
For the financing of the European budget, he said that Member States will be asked to be more prepared, but we cannot increase national contributions. That is why the Commission has proposed in the discussion a package of five own resources measures to finance the budget.