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The European Parliament has given its approval to the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), that is, the multiannual budget of the European Union valid between 2021 and 2027. The text of the budget was agreed with the Council of the European Union on 10 November. : 548 votes in favor, 81 against and 66 abstentions.
Compared to the initial Council proposal, an additional € 15 billion has been planned to finance ten programs dealing with health, research, culture and the common migration and asylum policy: “To better protect citizens from the COVID-19 pandemic, provide opportunities for the next generation and preserve European values, “Parliament said in a statement. The budget will thus reach 1,085 million euros.
The principle was also accepted that the costs of repayment of the debt that will arise with the Recovery Fund should not be covered at the expense of the MFF investment programs. In the coming years, Parliament and the Commission have committed to creating so-called “own resources”, ie taxes collected directly by the Union, which will be included in the budget and will cover part of the costs.
The multi-annual budget is a seven-year plan on how the money that all European countries contribute to the Union’s coffers will be spent. Initially, the budget proposal is prepared by the European Commission and presented to the Council of the European Union, made up of representatives of the governments of the member countries, for approval. The multiannual budget is then approved through a special legislative procedure established by Article 312 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which provides for the Council to adopt the regulation on the multiannual budget unanimously, after approval by an absolute majority of the European Parliament. , without the latter being able to modify the proposal (from year to year some changes can be made, but without leaving too much the initial design).
The European Parliament today also approved the regulation that links the allocation of funds to respect for the rule of law. Initially Hungary and Poland, two countries led by semi-authoritarians, vetoed the approval of the multi-year budget due to the introduction of the new mechanism, because they feared it would lead to sanctions against them. On December 10, after a few days of negotiations, the two countries announced that they had withdrawn the veto after obtaining some temporary concessions.
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