EU grants after 2020 – the question that keeps Hungary excited for six months, i.e. how much EU support can hungary receive after 2020? The answer is likely to take another six months, as the complexity of Brexit negotiations makes it difficult to shape the overall plan for a new EU budget.
The draft should be presented to the European Commission by the end of this year under the legislation, but in view of the situation, the Commissioner for Budget will initiate the extension of this deadline by six months, i.e. the question of how much EU support we can receive is expected to be answered in the summer of 2018 at the earliest. Another big question is the extent to which the money spent on cohesion policy to catch up with less developed Member States and less disadvantaged regions will be reduced. Although the Commissioner, Günter Öttinger, expressed his displeasure with the amendments in this regard, the Germans and austrians envisage significant cuts to this part of the budget.
The finances that will be settled in the UK's exit negotiations play a significant role in the budget design, but the terms of this cannot be agreed before autumn 2018, as well as the details of the exit. There are some ideas that the European Commission could make demands on britons worth up to €100 billion. According to the Commissioner, it will still be very difficult to determine the impact on the EU budget, such as EU aid, after the British exit, as the current seven-year financial framework runs until 2020. As a result, Britons will be able to make their budget payments and contributions to EU spending until the end of this period. And in the coming period, there will be a significant budget deficit, as Britain covers approximately 15% of the revenue side of the budget. Following a rapid calculation, this item represents a deficit of EUR 10-13 billion in the budget which may increase in the future.
The Commissioner for Budget underlined that there has never been more need for a cohesion policy to reduce differences in development between regions than there is now, which is encouraging for Hungary. This means that the cohesion policy budget will continue to be important in the post-2020 period, but it will be modernised and the rules for the use of the Structural Funds simplified. In the context of the reform, development funds would be put at the service of the implementation of the CSRs to a greater extent than at present. Another good sign is that the Commissioner has stated that he will fight the cuts in cohesion policy spending, which could have a positive impact on EU aid to our EU támogatásokatcountry.