The Federal Government wants to limit the amount of the EU's future Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) to one percent of EU gross domestic product. This is what the Permanent Representative to the EU, Michael Clauß, told EU Ministers from other EU countries at a lunch on the previous Monday.
Literally, the diplomat's so-called wire report on the meeting stated: "I made it clear that the volume of the MFF must be limited to one percent." The five-page letter ("VS - only for official use") is available to SPIEGEL.
The announcement shows that Germany intends to remain firm in the upcoming negotiations for the MFF from 2021 to 2027, even if the Federal Government thereby abandons the coalition agreement. Because in it union and SPD had promised even higher expenditure for the EU.
Claus defended the restrictive line. With the British probably missing a strong contributor soon, the gap must balance the others. "One percent means that Germany has to contribute ten billion euros more each year, despite the cooling economy," said the German diplomat at the meeting.
Worry also caused Berlin insists on keeping the rebate. The Germans had negotiated this like other EU countries, after the then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had pushed through a cut in her country's payments. "I underlined that an agreement on the future MFF is not conceivable without discounts," writes Clauss in his wire report. The EU Commission, on the other hand, had suggested canceling all discounts with Brexit.
Violent criticism of the German austerity course is practiced by the Greens. "Germany's one-percent target in Brussels is becoming even more devastating dogma than the black zero in Berlin," says Franziska Brantner, the European spokeswoman for the Greens in the Bundestag. "It's not a departure for Europe."
In mid-October, the heads of state and government want to deal with the bulky matter. However, an agreement will probably only come closer towards the end of 2020 if Germany takes over the leadership role in the Council on a regular basis.
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