Analysis
Politics
European Commission Report Highlights Ukraine’s Gains in Governance, Reform and Resilience
7 November 2024
30 June 2020
The ongoing negotiations for the next Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF) has taken the shape of a never-ending saga, amplified by COVID-19 and an ongoing dispute over the rule of law. At the heart is a discussion over the value of cohesion spending and which level of government should be most involved.
Agreement on the EU’s next Multi-annual Financial Framework (2021-2027) remains at a stage of work in progress. This is due to multiple reasons.
First, the departure of the United Kingdom – the second largest net contributor – leaves the dent of about 10 billion euros per year. Because the long-term EU budget is by design one without a deficit, this requires changes in the programmes.
Since the start of the negotiations, member states that are net contributors have called for a smaller budget saying that taking the burden to fill the UK’s void is not possible.