After the end of the blockade by Hungary and Poland, the EU took important decisions for the future community budgets and the billions in Corona aid. As the Council of Ministers announced in Brussels on Monday, the 27 member states approved both the EU financing system and the regulations for the Corona recovery program on Monday. In addition, decisions were made on the financial framework for the coming years and the individual budget for 2021.
Image: APA (AFP)
A total of around 1.8 trillion euros should be available to the EU by the end of 2027. 750 billion euros of this are planned for corona aid.
The financial package was blocked for weeks because of a veto by Hungary and Poland. It was only possible to get it back on track with an additional declaration negotiated by the German EU Council Presidency. Hungary and Poland had feared that a new regulation to punish violations of the rule of law would aim to cut EU funds for them because of controversial political projects. The declaration has now clarified how the mechanism can be challenged in case of doubt.
The EU financial package has yet to be approved by the EU Parliament. According to the present agenda, this should happen on Wednesday. In addition, a ratification of the so-called own resources decision on the financing system is necessary in the member states. According to information from the EU Commission, national parliaments in 23 countries must also be involved.
As usual, most of the money for the next EU community budgets will come from the budgets of the member states. In addition, there will be income, for example from customs duties and a new tax on non-recycled plastic waste. The 750 billion euros for the Corona economic stimulus program, however, are to be raised in the financial markets.
Of the 312.5 billion euros in grants to be awarded via the so-called development and resilience facility, Austria could receive around 3 billion euros, according to estimates published in September. As a country particularly hard hit by the pandemic, Italy can expect 65.5 billion euros, Spain around 59 billion euros.
The new EU defense fund is to be equipped with almost eight billion euros. The German EU Council Presidency reached a corresponding provisional agreement with representatives of the European Parliament. The money will be used, for example, to support the development of drones or other modern weapon systems. Around 2.65 billion euros of the amount are earmarked for research projects and 5.3 billion euros for specific development work.
“The new European Defense Fund will strengthen the EU's ability to protect its citizens and make the EU a stronger global actor,” commented German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. It is a future-oriented instrument for intensifying research and developing common skills.
In the fight against terrorism or organized crime, however, the EU states want to be able to access encrypted communication. Responsible authorities would have to be able to get legal and targeted access to the data, according to a declaration of the 27 EU states under the heading “Security through encryption and security despite encryption” on Monday.
Technical solutions for accessing encrypted data would have to observe the principles of legality, transparency, necessity and proportionality as well as the protection of personal data. Data protection activists had expressed massive concerns in advance.
