Mid-term review of the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020

Key points:

The EESC

• considers that the present MFF and the post-2020 version should directing their resources towards programmes that can:

• relaunch economic, social and environmental development, employment, innovation and competitiveness;
• respond to the migration and refugee crisis, to internal security issues, external emergencies and the crisis in the agricultural sector.

• finds that the debate on the MFF must focus on its adequacy – in terms of both the resources allocated and of the budget structure – for giving the EU the wherewithal to pursue its strategic priorities without increasing the fiscal burden on the public and businesses, i.e. its ability to provide European added value;

• agrees with the increase in resources for some areas of expenditure considered to be highly effective, i.e. Horizon 2020, the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), Erasmus+, COSME and WiFi4EU, together with the expansion of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) and the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) (Quantitative aspect of the MFF review);

• agrees with the objective of introducing simpler, more flexible general and sectoral financial rules, and therefore particularly welcomes the streamlining of the administrative requirements applying to beneficiaries of EU resources, as well as of controls, auditing and reporting (Qualitative aspect of the MFF review;

• considers it would be useful to align the duration of the next MFF with the political cycle of the Commission and Parliament;

• supports the Commission's efforts to introduce new types of own resources, therewith winding down the system of national contributions from the Member States;
• endorses the message that more (and better) Europe is needed – not less. The crisis in the EU is caused by the lack of a strategic vision of Europe's future.