The battle for the EU's long-term budget

Are European Union countries, still facing economic crises, ready to support the ambitious EU 2020 growth strategy, or will it get tangled up in the claims of member states preoccupied by what they contribute to the budget and what they get back? And, if they do come up with a budget to support the 2020 targets, what will happen to traditional policy areas? These issues will be tackled when the EU negotiates its long-term budget, the so-called multiannual financial framework (MFF) for 2014-2020.

The MFF determines EU expenditure for the next 7 years, broken down by policy area. It will be accompanied by a new proposal on own-resources to ensure income. The Commission will present a proposal in June, which will be the starting point for discussions likely to continue well into 2012.

The Special Policy Challenges Committee (SURE) was tasked with defining the European Parliament’s position on the long-term budget ahead of negotiations with the Council. The work was divided into three phases:

• Phase 1 (July-December 2010): Discussions on technical and horizontal issues (for example: the Europe 2020 strategy, the duration, structure and size of the MFF)

• Phase 2: (January-March 2011): Discussions on specific policy priorities (agriculture, cohesion, energy, development aid, external relations…)

• Phase 3 (April-June 2011): Negotiations on a common EP position + vote on report

With the vote in plenary, the committee's role ended, but the EP is still involved in talks about the future shape of the budget and was one of the key players in a conference mid-October. Find out more in the first section.