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Before the start of another plenary session of the European Council, the leaders of the Baltic states discussed a possible separate commitment on Sunday afternoon with the group of “austerity countries” led by the Dutch, diplomatic sources told BNS.
A new stimulus fund would be established on the basis of loans from the European Commission, but leaders meeting since Friday morning have not yet agreed which part would be awarded to countries as grants and what part as loans.
There is also a lot of discussion about financial control of spending: The Dutch demand that states be able to veto the allocation of money if recipient countries do not carry out the necessary economic reforms, but Southerners disagree.
“The austerity countries are of the opinion that the budget must be smaller and that the responsibility must be greater so that the proportion of loans is greater than the proportion of subsidies.” The implication is that if you want, you can borrow, but you will have to pay, “the senior diplomat told reporters, who did not want to reveal his name because of the sensitivity of the matter.
On the eve of the negotiations, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, proposed a grant of € 500 million from the fund. 250 million euros in loans.
During the negotiations, it reduced the share of non-repayable aid to 450 million. but Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte demands more cuts.
How much will Lithuania receive?
The final amount for Lithuania will also depend on the final amount and the formula for allocating funds.
Unofficial calculations show that, according to the criteria proposed on Saturday, support from the new fund for Lithuania would be lower than that proposed by the European Commission in May, but higher than the proposal presented last week.
According to the sources, the subsidy can amount to around 1,500 million euros, with fluctuations of several hundred million euros according to different formulas. In addition, the possibility of requesting additional loans of around € 2 billion is foreseen.
If the fund is cut, Lithuania’s share will likely decrease.
There is also a separate EU budget of more than € 1 trillion for 2021-2027 at the negotiating table.
In it, Lithuanian negotiators seek to preserve as many funds as possible from so-called cohesion funds, which support the poorest European regions, and accelerate the growth of direct payments to Lithuanian farmers.
In the final stage of the negotiations, the parties generally receive additional concessions so that the leaders have arguments to convince their societies and parliaments.
Lithuanians heard the first good news on Saturday: Additional compensation for agriculture was offered to Lithuania and eight other countries. It is proposed to allocate an additional € 125 million of rural development funds to Lithuania.
In any case, the so-called cohesion support allocated to Lithuania to reduce the backwardness of the poorest regions will decrease as economic indicators get closer to the EU average. The project offers a guarantee that the reduction cannot exceed 24%, in addition, Lithuania should receive approximately 180 million. compensation for emigration losses.
The renovated project also offered between 139 and 189 million. to increase funding for the so-called Special Transit Scheme, which is used by Russian citizens traveling through Lithuania between the main part of Russia and the Königsberg region.
On Saturday, President G. Nausėda called the new proposal a step forward, but promised to secure greater cohesion support and a faster increase in direct payments to farmers.
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