The parties will share billions from the European Commission, but it is too early to rejoice: they expect difficult negotiations

Total: 2.4 billion. euros

The new proposal for the multiannual financial perspective (MFF or EU budget 2021-2027) and the Economic Recovery Plan were kept secret until Wednesday, when the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, presented it to Parliament Empty European in Brussels. In this way, von der Leyen symbolically bowed to the ambition of the European Parliament to have a greater participation in EU politics.

“I want to take this bold and decisive step together. Europe’s position is unique, it has the opportunity to invest together in a common recovery and recovery, in a common future (…). That is why the European Commission today presents an EU Recovery Plan called ‘The next generation of the EU’. Its value is 750 billion. euros It will be a close additional fund: 1.1 trillion. euros from the EU budget.

The next generation of the EU, together with the MFP, will have a total of 1.8 billion euros. euros There are still 540 billion. budget for safeguards agreed between the European Parliament and the Council of Europe. Therefore, our efforts to revive the economy will amount to $ 2.4 trillion. The President of the Commission told the MEPs.

Borrow and then share

Last week, the main EU countries, Germany and France, proposed that 500 billion euros are needed to save the European economy. euros The European Commission’s “Next Generation EU” plan is more ambitious: up to 750 billion euros. € 500 billion, of which € 250 billion will be provided to Member States in the form of grants. EUR – loans with minimal interest.

The European Commission will distribute them according to the projects submitted by the countries, which must meet certain requirements (implementation of the objectives of the green course, digitization or economic resilience).

“The idea of ​​the plan is to link the investments and reforms that should allow the requesting country to improve its social and economic situation, its resilience. It is important for the requesting country to explain how this will comply with the recommendations of the European Commission and the plans for energy and environment, etc. “, a senior Commission official spoke informally with accredited journalists in Brussels on the eve of von der Leyen’s presentation of the plan on Tuesday.

According to BNS Commissioner Virginia Sinkevičius, Lithuania can claim 6.3 billion. € 3.9 billion from the EU Next Generation Plan, of which € 2.4 billion in grants and € 2.4 billion in EUR – loans.

Lithuanian diplomats were unable to confirm this information to Delfi, and the European Commission announced that it plans to announce the possible participation of funds from all EU countries on Thursday.

750 billion in itself. The European Commission plans to borrow on behalf of all EU countries and pay from 2027 onwards. until 2058 by increasing the budgetary contributions of all EU countries, reducing payments in certain areas (such as agriculture or cohesion) and taking over the administration of certain taxes.

The European Commission proposes to expand the greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme (contributing € 10 billion), adjusting the cross-border carbon tax (€ 5-14 billion), corporate and digital taxes (€ 10 billion and € 1.3 billion respectively). per year) to Brussels.

“The European Commission proposal is a highly anticipated and crucial step towards a smooth recovery and long-term growth. It is essential that the Recovery Mechanism is available to all Member States, given the consequences of the crisis for them.

What Lithuania was looking for, ”said Jovita Neliupšienė, Permanent Representative of Lithuania to the EU, on Delfi.

“It is a voodoo economy”

Most MEPs, who passed a resolution in May, called for € 2 trillion for economic recovery. He welcomed the Commission’s ambitions on Wednesday. True, there were other opinions.

“It is wasting money as if it were not tomorrow … It is a voodoo economy,” said Jörg Meuthen, MEP from the far-right group Identity and Democracy.

He also called on the governments of Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and other countries to avoid “this madness”.

The last four countries, also known as the “austerity quartet”, were particularly critical of last week’s German-French proposal and said there could be no “debt-sharing” as it would allow EU economies Less financially disciplined and weaker take unfair advantage of cheaper loans from stronger EU members. bill. Furthermore, some projections suggest that even the least prosperous countries in the eastern EU have coped well with the coronary crisis and may become donors to rescue southern Europe.

Complicated approval procedure

Other MEPs also pointed out that the Commission’s words are beautiful, but that EU countries have the last word. In particular, the European Commission plan must be unanimously approved by the 27 member states. Then it has to be approved by the European Parliament and then ratified by the parliaments of all member states.

“To have its own resources, this decision must be ratified by the national parliaments of all countries. It will take time. Our goal is to have 2021. January 1,” said another high-level commissioner informally.
official on Tuesday.

Has everyone forgotten the EU budget?

The “next generation EU” plan has completely overshadowed the EU budget proposal, at least as it seems the European Commission has wanted it to happen. Von der Leyen in the European Parliament only mentioned that there will be an MFP
1.1 trln. euros It is also clear that the “next generation of the EU” will be closely linked to certain EU budget programs.

Earlier, European Commission officials said unofficially that the new draft MFF was little different from the proposal made by European Council President Charles Michel in February.

“In the next few days, regulations will be published for individual areas, as well as specific figures that we hope will meet the needs of Lithuania. Hopefully the crisis will emerge
The EU will be able to sail on one ship and not on different ships, “said Ambassador J. Neliupšienė.

A European Council was held in February, where an agreement on the MFF was not reached, since the same “austerity quartet” was trapped in chap. Michel’s proposal foresees a budget of 1,074%. of gross national income (€ 1,087 billion).

These countries, which are the largest contributors to the EU budget, have set the MFF at 1%. Previously, the European Commission proposed an even higher MFP of 1.11%. (1,135 billion euros) and the European Parliament
– even 1.3 percent.

Lithuania is in favor of a bigger EU budget, but it also received a lot of criticism. Michel’s proposal. According to him, EU funds for Lithuania, compared to 2014-2020. EU budget, decreased by about 1,500 million. Euros On the other hand, under such a proposal, around 11 billion LTL were provided for Lithuania. EU support.

This amount should now increase, of course, if all 27 EU countries agree to the European Commission’s proposal. Several European Councils are scheduled to be held in Brussels this summer,
where a fight waits until dawn.

“The Commission proposal is the beginning of the road, everything will have to be agreed by the Member States. Only this time the crisis. Now tools and finances are needed, so the road to agreement is not a walk, but a Sprint. Decisions should be made at that speed, “said Ambassador J. Neliupšienš.