Kölling and Serrano Leal on the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-20

Abstract
The Multiannual Financial Framework is an extremely important tool for the EU’s long-term budgetary planning and stability. It determines the way in which the EU budget will be spent, to what political priorities it will be devoted and how it will be financed. The negotiations on the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-20 (MFF 2014-20), which had reached a deadlock since the first attempt to reach an agreement in November 2012, were again placed on the agenda of the extraordinary European Council of 7-8 February 2013. After 26 hours of negotiations, the heads of state and government of the EU member states reached a political agreement on the maximum figures for EU-28 expenditure for 2014-20.[1] The EU Council’s President, Herman Van Rompuy, announced via Twitter: ‘Deal done! EU has agreed on MFF for the rest of the decade. Worth waiting for’. However, shortly afterwards he admitted that the MFF 2014-20 is ‘perhaps nobody’s perfect budget but there’s a lot in it for everybody’.

Full text available at: http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/wps/portal/rielcano_eng/Content?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/elcano/Elcano_in/Zonas_in/ARI7-2013-Kolling-Serrano-MFF-MFP-Spain