Image: European Union
Talks have major implications for R&D funding
Leaders of EU member states have gathered in Brussels for a high-stakes European Council meeting at which they are planning to discuss the bloc’s 2021-27 budget, Brexit and EU enlargement.
The Council is set to tackle the overall funding of the budget, as well as allocations to main policy areas such as research, agriculture and regional cohesion. It is the only one of the EU’s three main legislative bodies that is yet to adopt a budget position.
A paper drafted by the Finnish Presidency of the Council will form the basis of the budget discussions, and appeared to have been leaked to the media ahead of the meeting on 17 and 18 October.
A document published by the news website Euractiv said that member states want to allocate between 1 and 1.11 per cent of the EU’s gross national income to the budget. The higher figure is the level proposed by the European Commission, while the European Parliament wants spending to be set at 1.3 per cent of GNI.
Finland is hoping to “strike a balance between [funding for] new challenges and traditional policies”, according to the document. This will include balancing cuts to agriculture and cohesion funding deemed necessary due to the expected loss of the UK’s contribution to the budget.
Funding for other policy areas—such as R&D—should be raised but in a way that limits the increase proposed by the Commission, the document says. The Commission has proposed that the EU’s 2021-27 R&D programme should have a budget of €83.5bn in 2018 prices, whereas the Parliament wants at least €120bn.
Member states broadly agree that the budget should keep providing extra cash to countries that take in migrants, according to the document, and that a quarter of the budget should be allocated to addressing climate change.
One bone of contention is how payments might be linked to member states’ adherence to EU laws and what infractions should trigger a payment freeze.
Rather than trying to reach a firm position on the budget, the talks are expected to steer further discussions in December.
Leaders are expected to make a decision on whether to open EU accession talks to Albania and North Macedonia, and might also decide whether to back a Brexit deal agreed by UK and EU negotiators on 17 October.