Negotiations on the EU's Multiannual Financial Framework have entered their final phase
Negotiations on the EU's Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF, the EU budget for the years 2014–20) have now entered their final phase. The EU Heads of State or Government are to reach agreement on the framework at the European Council meeting in Brussels on 22-23 November. The Cabinet Committee on EU Affairs outlined Finland's key objectives in the negotiations.
In the current economic situation, where Member States are being forced to trim their national budgets, it is important that the Union's financial framework for the next seven years remain moderate. It should also be noted that the overall level of the financial framework is the single most significant factor affecting our net contributor position. With a soaring EU budget, Finland's payments to the Union would rise more sharply than the amount of money we would receive in forms of different support payments and measures.
Finland's main objective is that the overall level of the MFF be cut by approximately EUR 130 billion from the Commission's proposal. This means that the seven-year framework would amount to approximately EUR 990 billion which equals to about one per cent of the sum of all Member States' GNI.
To reach the target, Finland is ready to accept cuts in all MFF headings. The cuts should not, however, be implemented on a straight line basis in all headings but rather be focused on the areas where the Commission has proposed greatest growth, where the use of funds has proven inefficient and where the European added-value has remained the lowest.
Finland aims at safeguarding the current level of rural development funding and preserving the special status of eastern and northern Finland in regional and structural policies. Moreover, Finland finds it important that the share of research, development and innovation funding be increased in the budget.
Finland is of the opinion that the system for raising the revenue for the EU budget must be simple, transparent and fair. This is why we have objected the existing correction mechanisms that apply to certain Member States.