European Council President Charles Michel called a special summit on EU Budget on February 20. Agenda proposal for the forthcoming meeting will be put forward in the coming days.
The main issues expected to be discussed at the summit are as follows:
- First and foremost, the overall budget size;
- The Just Transition Fund to help regions transition to a greener economy, probably at the expense of the first largest EU spending item, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP);
- ‘Cohesion and Values’ the largest of the seven headings (that includes Cohesion funds representing 61.8%, and Creative Europe 0.4% of the total of heading 2 budget) is also likely to be severely cut;
Graph in dark blue shows European Commission’s (EC) proposal, light blue refers to the proposal of European Parliament (EP).
- Rule of law: finally a link might be drawn between rule of law standards and EU funding;
- And of course Brexit: the second-largest net contributor is preparing to leave the EU by the end of the week.
Michel has vowed to lock leaders in before the agreement is found: ”Any postponement would create serious practical and political problems and jeopardise the continuation of current programs and policies as well as the launch of new ones”, – he insisted.
