Through a nuanced policy, Bulgaria is defending its goals in negotiations on the Multiannual Financial Framework
02 November 2012 News
The Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) is much more than the EU budget for the next seven years. It is a powerful instrument of investment for overcoming the crisis, job creation, and overcoming the differences between countries and regions. This was said by Foreign Minister Nickolay Mladenov at a public discussion in Plovdiv on “Opportunities and challenges for Bulgaria in the context of the Multiannual Financial Framework and the EU Cohesion Policy for the period 2014-2020”.
Bulgaria has two priorities in the process of negotiations on the MFF: the first is the provision of sufficient funds for the construction of infrastructure and the creation of new jobs, and the second, the implementation of quality projects.
There are several specific objectives of these priorities - ensuring the necessary funding under the Cohesion Policy to preserve the current level of funding for the CAP, as well as acquiring additional funding for the decommissioning of the reactors at Kozloduy nuclear power station.
In the negotiations, there are two groups of EU member states - the "Friends of Cohesion Policy" group and a "net donor countries” group. Bulgaria, which is part of the first group, believes that the Cohesion Policy should remain at its current level. This group has two powerful allies, in the form of the European Parliament and European Commission. On the other side of the coin, EU countries that are net donors insist on reducing the total budget. “Leaving aside the political dimension, the difference in the positions of the two groups of EU member states (net contributors / net beneficiaries) is only 0.1 per cent of EU GNI," Minister Mladenov said.
"Bulgaria should follow a very nuanced policy. There are issues on which we agree with one group, and issues on which we agree in common with the other. Moreover, among the Friends of Cohesion Policy, there is a lack of consensus on the idea that countries must meet certain macroeconomic conditions to receive funds,” he said.
Bulgaria holds to the fundamental position that the total EU budget should not be reduced. Bulgaria would be most affected if the proposal if the proposal of the Cyprus EU Presidency, for a reduction of 50 billion euro, were accepted.
Currently negotiations are in the final phase and it is expected that a political agreement will be reached at the special European Council meeting on November 22 and 23 2012, which will be entirely devoted to the MFF.
"We hope to reach a reasonable compromise. If we do not succeed within the agreed deadline, we will send an extremely negative signal to citizens that the EU is not able to take the necessary decisions at a crucial moment,” Minister Mladenov said, adding that reaching a timely agreement would allow all programmes and instruments to begin functioning on the first day of 2014
"When negotiations are completed, it is unlikely that we will see that some have absolutely won and others absolutely lost. Compromise involves finding a formula that adequately meets the needs of all. Everybody will win and lose something,” Minister Mladenov said.