MNI BRIEF: EC Says EU Budget Flexibility Stretched To Maximum

The EU Commission today proposed an EUR189.3 budget for next year, supplemented by EUR113bn in NGEU grants, but warned that the flexibility of the existing annual budget has been stretched to the maximum and that key proposals to resolve long-term funding constraints would be published on June 20. The post-Covid recovery support and aid for Ukraine had “put the EU budget under strain and stretched EU budget flexibilities to the maximum,” the commission said.

Brussels added that the mid-term review of the Multiannual Financial Framework (2021-7) would be published on June 20 and said “any implications” of that for the 2024 budget would be considered following that.

The MFF review should present an updated estimate for interest rate costs on its NGEU borrowing programme and may also propose lifting the EU’s expenditure ceilings to cope with these ongoing funding challenges.