The new multiannual financial framework (2021-2027) is the EU’s seven-year Budget and the means for redistribution of funding to and development of the countries of Europe. New policy priorities that are decisive for citizens’ futures are emerging in the new framework, and Greece is being called upon to support and promote these priorities. As Greece emerges from a decade-long crisis and fiscal recession, what is at stake in the Union’s new Budget for 2021-2027 is all the more critical, because it will determine Greece’s production model, along with the cohesion of Greek society, for the next ten years.
On the European level, the debate on the allotment of funding to the various policies remains unresolved, with a focus on the negotiations concerning the policies of traditional interest to Greece. In other words, the Cohesion Policy and the Common Agricultural Policy, which have long been strategic pillars of growth and social cohesion for Greece. Our goal – in the wake of our country’s loss of 25% of its GDP during the crisis – is to maintain the level of funding for the Common Agricultural Policy and to negotiate the best possible benefits from the Cohesion Policy. So this is one of the greatest challenges we are facing in the shifting landscape of a Europe that is redefining its policy priorities.
What is clear is that we cannot have a strong EU and robust social cohesion with a Budget that is constantly shrinking and does not reflect the current growth inequalities among the European states.
Of course, the looming Brexit stands to reduce the Budget, bringing new challenges and a new balance of power in the net contributions to the Budget. But these new challenges must be faced on a basis that is fair and equal for everyone.
Reducing joblessness, particularly among young people, closing the competitiveness gap between the more developed countries of the north and the less developed countries of the south, the refugee crisis, research and innovation, the digital technologies of the 4th industrial revolution, and attracting competitiveness-boosting investments are all key issues, leading to the conclusion that the negotiations on the new Community Budget will be critical for our nation, and by new means easy.
July 27, 2019