Cuardaigh
Outcome of the European Council meeting of 14-15 December 2023
Despite predictions of a long and inconclusive meeting, EU leaders achieved a historic and highly symbolic agreement to open accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, grant candidate status to Georgia, and open accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina, once the latter complies fully with the membership criteria. Even if the European Council did not finalise discussions on the revision of the multiannual financial framework – which includes, inter alia, an aid package for Ukraine ...
Outlook for the European Council meeting of 14-15 December 2023
The last regular European Council meeting in 2023, on 14 and 15 December, promises to be a very challenging one. All the salient topics of 2023 – notably the war in Ukraine, enlargement, revision of the EU's multiannual financial framework (MFF) and the conflict in the Middle East – are on the agenda; and on many of these, EU leaders are divided. Whereas the conclusions on the war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East will reiterate previous positions, the European Council will focus on ...
The impacts of recent inflation developments on the EU finances
The focus of this study is the effect of inflation on the ongoing implementation of the current MFF on an aggregate level. The relevant inflation impacts and the channels via which they take effect are presented and analysed for the MFF and the EU revenue system. The study then maps and discusses policy options to mitigate these effects regarding the ongoing MFF and NGEU implementation, as well as with a view to the ongoing MFF mid-term revision.
System of own resources of the European Union: Amended legislative proposal
In June 2023, the European Commission adopted an amended proposal for a Council decision on the introduction of new own resources, following its December 2021 proposal. The amended proposal is in line with the roadmap included in the Interinstitutional Agreement on Own Resources, part of the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework and the Next Generation EU package. Parliament is due to vote on the Committee on Budgets report during its November I plenary session, after which the Council can adopt ...
Establishing the Ukraine Facility
The Ukraine Facility has been designed to support Ukraine, its recovery and its path to EU accession, with up to €50 billion for the period from 2024 to 2027. The Commission has proposed a draft regulation, on which the Committees on Budgets (BUDG) and Foreign Affairs (AFET) jointly adopted a report on 5 October 2023. A partial vote is envisaged in the October II plenary, setting a mandate for subsequent trilogue negotiations. To finance the Facility, a revision of the multiannual financial framework ...
Parliament's reading of the 2024 EU budget
During the October II plenary session, Parliament is expected to decide its position on amendments to the Council's position on the draft EU budget for 2024. The Committee on Budgets (BUDG) has aligned its reading of the 2024 budget with its call for a revision of the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework (MFF). BUDG reverses all the Council's proposed reductions to the Commission's draft and proposes a considerable increase in commitments in the 2024 budget for Parliament's priorities: addressing ...
Plenary round-up – October I 2023
During the October I plenary session Members held a number of debates, including on the need for speedy adoption of the EU asylum and migration package. Other debates focused on: precarity in Europe and the need to aid the deprived; large-scale corrupt sales of Schengen visas; medicine shortages and EU strategic healthcare autonomy; the European Central Bank's 10th consecutive increase in reference interest rates; proposals to extend glyphosate use; and on the Energy Charter Treaty. In the external ...
Mid-term revision of the 2021-2027 MFF: Interim report on Commission proposal
On 20 June 2023, the Commission made a proposal for a revision of the EU's long-term budget, to urgently address shortcomings and provide further financial support to Ukraine. Overall, the Committee on Budgets (BUDG) supports the revision in its interim report, pending the formal request from the Council, which has yet to agree its position, for consent to the revision. But BUDG says that an additional €10 billion, on top of the €65.8 billion proposed by the Commission, is needed to address the challenges ...
Economic Dialogue with the President of the ECOFIN-Council - September 2023
Nadia Calvinho, First Vice President of the Government of Spain, Minister for Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation is participating in the ECON Committee in her capacity of President of the ECOFIN Council during the Spanish Presidency (July - December 2023). In accordance with the Treaty of the Union, “Member States shall regard their economic policies as a matter of common concern and shall coordinate them within the Council”. This document provides an overview of the Spanish Presidency priorities ...
Early implementation of four 2021-2027 EU programmes: Erasmus +, Creative Europe, European Solidarity Corps and Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (Strand 3)
Ahead of their forthcoming mid-term evaluation, this study provides an initial evaluation of the implementation of the Erasmus +, Creative Europe, European Solidarity Corps, and Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Strand 3 funding programmes since their launch in late 2021. The evaluation focuses primarily on their relevance, coherence and effectiveness, with a view to identifying challenges and shortcomings, but also to highlight good practices and potential for future development. The research ...