Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
The Council of the European Union adopted three legislative acts relating to the review of the EU's multiannual financial framework for the period 2021-2027, giving the final green light to the package, which aims to strengthen the EU's long-term budget in a targeted way and address new challenges. Challenges, such as the consequences of Russia's aggressive war on Ukraine.
The package includes a regulation amending the Multiannual Financial Framework for 2021-2027, as well as regulations establishing the Ukraine Facility and the Strategic Technologies Platform for Europe (STEP).
Review of the European Union's multiannual financial framework
The amendments to the Multiannual Financial Framework for 2021-2027 reflect the agreement reached by EU leaders on 1 February 2024 and strengthen the long-term EU budget in a limited number of priority areas.
In total, €64.6 billion of additional financing will be made available to address new and emerging challenges facing the EU and to meet EU legal obligations that can no longer be accommodated within current budget ceilings.
The additional financing covers support for Ukraine, migration, the external dimension, investments in critical technologies as part of the Strategic Technologies Platform for Europe, the next generation of EU interest payments and emergency aid in situations such as natural disasters and humanitarian crises in the EU and around the world. .
It will be distributed as follows:
€50 billion for the Ukraine Facility (€17 billion in grants and €33 billion in loans)
€2 billion for immigration and border management
7.6 billion euros for the neighborhood and the world
€1.5 billion for the European Defense Fund under the new STEP instrument
€2 billion for the flexibility instrument
1.5 billion euros for the solidarity reserve and emergency aid
To limit the impact on national budgets, part of this funding, totaling €10.6 billion, will be covered by budget reallocations.
Ukraine facility
The Ukraine Facility will be a new instrument dedicated to supporting Ukraine's recovery, reconstruction and modernization, while supporting its efforts to implement reforms as part of its EU accession process.
This will bring together EU budget support to Ukraine into a single instrument, providing coherent, predictable and flexible support to Ukraine for the period 2024-2027, adapting to the unprecedented challenges of supporting a country at war.
Strategic technologies for Europe platform
The Strategic Technologies Platform for Europe will mobilize investments in the areas of digital, deep technology, clean technology and biotechnology, with the overarching aim of strengthening the EU's long-term sovereignty and competitiveness in these vital technologies.
Through a combination of incentives and financial measures to facilitate project financing, it will increase financing to support critical technologies under existing EU programs and funds, including the Cohesion Policy Funds, InvestEU, Horizon Europe, the European Defense Fund, the Innovation Fund and the EU Fund. Recovery and resilience facility.
According to the European statement, the three regulations will now be signed and published in the Official Journal of the European Union in the coming days.
Amendments to the Regulation establishing the Multiannual Financial Framework will enter into force on the day of their publication and will apply retroactively from January 1, 2024. The Regulations establishing the Facility of Ukraine and STEP will enter into force on the day following their adoption. Publishing.
Exceptional support could be provided very soon after the Ukraine Facility Regulations enter into force, subject to the conditions to be agreed in the Memorandum of Understanding between the Commission and Ukraine. According to a European statement distributed in Brussels last night, and we received a copy of it, after the approval of the European Parliament, the Council adopted the current long-term European Union budget, or the multi-year financial framework for the period 2021-2027, in December 2020. Since then, the European Union has faced Unprecedented and unexpected challenges, consequences of the Russian war of aggression. Ukraine faces accelerating inflation, interest rates and migration-related challenges. This has put the EU budget under pressure.
The Commission submitted proposals to amend the MFF for 2021-2027 and establish the Ukraine Facility and STEP on 20 June 2023 as part of a package of measures linked to the mid-term review of the MFF.
The package was finalized on 8 November 2023 by proposing a regulation on the establishment of the Reform and Growth Facility for the Western Balkans. The Council and the European Parliament have not yet agreed on their respective negotiating mandates on this proposal.