Opening remarks by Commissioner Serafin during the first joint meeting of BUDG-REGI-AGRI committees at the European Parliament in Strasbourg

Thank you Madam Chair,

Since it is indeed the first meeting we have in the European Parliament, I also would like to wish all of you Happy New Year!

With the agreement of the Executive Vice-President Fitto and Commissioner Hansen, I will take the floor as the first one and I will focus my intervention on some cross-cutting aspects of the proposals.

But let me also assure you: yes indeed this is the first meeting of the joint committee, but this is not the first time we are discussing about the NRPP and you know very well that we value a lot the engangment of the Euorpean Parliament and it has been demonstrated clearly also in the context of discussions based on article 324, also with the letter of President von der Leyen going in the direction of the European Parliament.

With the National and Regional Partnership Plans, we are proposing an instrument of EUR 865 billion. It was said by the BUDG Chair: NRPP has a central role in the next MFF and this is indeed the reality.

This instrument brings together cohesion, agriculture, social, maritime, and home policies  to jointly deliver National and Regional Partnership Plans. It brings them together to give more flexibility both to the member states, but also the regions and the beneficiaries.

Within the total envelope, we also forsee, minimum amounts to provide predictability, because we have been aware since the very beginning that there is a tension between flexibility and predictability. Therefore we forsee:

-      minimum EUR 294 bln for farmers

-      minimum EUR 2 bln for fishermen

-      minimum EUR 218 bln for less developed regions

-      And minimum EUR 34 bln for migration and border management.

Our proposal also includes a number of targets to bring in the European dimension to the NRPP:

A social target of 14% which will yield EUR 100 bln for social investment. And social investments will be mainstreamed across the whole budget for the first time. And a green target of 43% combining climate and biodiversity actions to reach the overall spending target for the whole MFF.

In November last year we also proposed a rural target of 10% to make sure that rural areas benefit from a comprehensive policy approach to respond to their challenges.

The proposed performance framework will enable monitoring and tracking of expenditure across the entire budget. It will also serve to monitor progress in reaching the targets.  

When it comes to conditionality, from my perspective the most important aspect refers to the rule of law.

The rule of law will remain a cornerstone of the next MFF and a strong condition for EU support. The rule of law conditionality regulation will continue to apply across the entire MFF, including the NRPP.

When it comes to the NRP Regulation, it includes additional safeguards, as well as incentives, to make sure the Fund is used in line with the rule of law principle.

When it comes to the governance of the next MFF, it was also one of the aspects that we have discussed thoroughly with the colleagues from the BUDG Committee.

The EP together with the Council, as the two arms of the budgetary authority, will steer the decisions about the priorities that the EU budget should focus on, and it should also have an impact on the decisions within the framework of the NRPP.

In November we proposed further measures to strenghten the MFF governance and steering mechanism.  

Let me also say a few words about the EU Facility within the NRPPs.

This is a key aspect of our proposal, I know it will not be covered by neither the Executive Vice-President Fitto or Commissioner Hansen, but it is a key aspect of our proposal with an indicative budget of nearly EUR 72 bln.

Building on the experience of the thematic facility of the home affairs funds, it will create an additional buffer for unexpected needs.

The EU Facility will be implemented through two components: 

1) Union actions and 

2) a budget cushion.

We already forsee indicative allocation in three areas: tripling of support for natural disasters, doubling of support for market interventions within the framework of the Common Agricultural Policy and significant increases also for justice and home affairs funds.

We are also proposing a Catalyst Europe mechanism, which is about making use of borrowing to give member states who so wish more capacity under their plans via policy loans.

And finally there is the crisis mechanism that will be reserved for addressing large-scale unforeseen crises.

The crisis response capability can be activated by the Council only after obtaining the consent of the European Parliament. This is a key change in the governance to crisis response compared to the current situation.

Thank you.