EU unveils bigger post-Brexit budget
BRUSSELS: The EU unveiled plans yesterday for a bigger 1.279trillion euro budget for the seven years after Brexit, featuring a controversial move to cut funding for countries that fail to respect the rule of law.
European Commission chief Jean- Claude Juncker said the proposals were “reasonable and responsible” but the idea of spending more money faces opposition from several countries.
Poland and Hungary, which have both been severely criticised by Brussels over democratic freedom, are meanwhile up in arms over the proposal to ‘suspend, reduce or restrict access’ to errant states.
“We are proposing a new mechanism that will allow for the protection of the budget linked to risks arising from deficiencies in the rule of law,” Juncker told the European Parliament.
The departure of Britain, a net contributor, in 2019 leaves the bloc with what Juncker says is 15 billion euro gap in its accounts, but the EU also wants more money for ambitious projects to unify the remaining 27 member states.
EU Budget Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said member states would pay 1.114 per cent of their annual gross domestic product under the plans, up from one percent in the current 2014-2020 multi-year budget worth 1.0 trillion euros.
One of the key proposed cuts is five per cent from the Common Agricultural Policy, the largest single area of EU spending and one dear to major farm producer France.
There is also a five-percent proposed cut to so- called cohesion funds, which former Soviet bloc states in eastern Europe are the biggest beneficiaries from.
In return, the European Commission wants to spend more on the digital economy, research, defence and protection for the bloc’s borders against mass migration, including what one European source said is a quintupling of the border force Frontex to nearly 6,000 people.
Countries including Austria and the Netherlands are already gearing up to fight any demand for increased national contributions, although France and Germany have said they are ready to pay more.
The plan is likely to cause fights on a number of other fronts.
Firstly, Warsaw and Budapest, locked in battle with Brussels over democratic standards and their refusal to accept refugees, oppose any attempt to impose conditions on the billions in funds they get from the bloc.
They view it as an attempt to punish them indirectly, without going through mechanisms like an unprecedented sanctions procedure launched by Brussels against Poland over its court reforms.
Juncker said “respect for the rule of law is an indispensable prerequisite for sound financial management and effective implementation of the budget.”
But Poland was standing firm.