As 10 billion euro per year is set to leave with the United Kingdom, the EU27 leaders discussed the European ”cash register”.
As Poslovni Dnevnik/Ana Maria Filipović Grčić writes on the 26th of February, 2018, on Friday in the Belgian capital of Brussels, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković attended an informal EU27 summit on the issue of forming a new EU budget after the United Kingdom withdraws from the political union, stating that the Republic of Croatia was generally prepared to increase its payments.
After Brexit, the EU will remain without 10 billion euro per year, but the European Commission (EC) will have concrete figures for increasing payments from individual countries and the official proposal for the next budget.
Journalists were informed that although the character of this meeting was informal, it will determine the dynamics of negotiations over the next seven-year budget, pointing out that one of the pillars of the EU’s budget power foresees the strengthening of the Union’s original revenue, thereby facilitating common policies.
“When it comes to the multi-annual financial framework, when it comes to question of contribution, the EU budget certainly isn’t the same. We’re basically prepared to increase payments, given that we expect the European budget to be an additional developmental strength for regional development and Croatian agriculture in the next ten years. Of course, there are also the issues of education and the employment of young people, immigration and all that the EU can do with our redistributive power,” stated Plenković.
