During the plenary session (14-17/12) of the European Parliament in Brussel, MEPs assess the outcome of the December European Council with Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, and Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council. MEPs discuss their positions on the EU long-term budget 2021-2027 (MFF), the rule of law conditionality, and own resources.

Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 10-11 December 2020: extracts from the debate on MFF

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Title: Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 10-11 December 2020: extracts from the debate on MFF 

SOUNDBITE (English), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, You all know the impass we faced in recent weeks. Our 1.8 trillion Euros agreement came with the conditionality for the protection of our budget. It was a collective decision by all 27 leaders taken last July, but two member states could not approve the package. And we found a way to unblock the situation, and here I want to pay tribute to Chancellor Merkel and her team for their tireless efforts.

SOUNDBITE (English), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, The first objective that we all share is to overcome covid-19 turn 2021 into the year in which we took control of the virus and in which we were really able to revitalise and our economies and launch a process of transformation. We also want to progress in terms of our role in the world. On covid, of course, it will not be easy to continue cooperation in order to deploy the vaccines as soon as they are able in order to continue our work on where contest and tracing but making the success of the economic transformation was one of the issues in the Euro Zone debate. We want to continue to make progress towards the banking union and the Capital Markets Union.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, The conditionality mechanism has not been reopened and this was a red line for me. And I know exactly this was also a red line for you. It is pathbreaking that for the first time the union equips itself with a mechanism to protect the budget against breaches of the principle of the rule of law, not just individual breaches that have already occurred, but also, and more importantly, systemic or recurrent shortcomings that could in a direct way threaten the budget and the EU financial interests in the future.

SOUNDBITE (German), Michael ROTH, German Federal Minister of State for Europe, There's something which perhaps no other national budget has, and I can say that as representing the council that 30 percent of the budget within the MFF will go for climate protection.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), These 1.8 trillion Euroes is then finally also linked to a historic achievement to link the first time money with the basic principles we believe in. Rule of law mechanism. It was a red line for us in the European Parliament that we will not allow to change the trialogue outcome and this red line is now respected. For me and for my group this is a game changer. In the last twenty, thirty years, we saw first a process of strengthening rule of law in the European Union, especially with the enlargement process. And then we saw a process of weakening the rule of law in today's European Union. This mechanism is now, again, a strong base for defending this rule of law.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Iratxe GARC&#205;A P&#201;REZ (S&amp;D, ES), Over these last couple of months, the main political groups we have worked together in a united fashion with the council and the commission, and unprecedented achievements have been made historic in nature. For example, a budgetary agreement for the next couple of years, we've increased by 16 billion. And this, of course, with the help of the council, we've put together a mechanism for the future which will link rule of law with the budget. These are very important issues for us Europeans because it makes our values stronger.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ska KELLER (Greens/EFA, DE), It is good to see that finally in the eleventh hour, the European Council gave its green light so that the support for citizens and economies hit hard by the pandemic can finally start. Neither the European citizens and economies hit hard, nor the climate could have waited any longer. But while it's really good that those agreements have been reached, there is quite some worrying trends attached to each of the decisions. And the past weeks have seen a sad show of obstructions by the governments of Hungary and Poland who wanted to take the recovery fund hostage for their own anti-democratic agenda.

SOUNDBITE (French), Manon AUBRY (GUE/NGL, FR), Once upon a time, the Three Kings, Macron, Merkel were going to save the European people. But unfortunately, the European people will be disappointed when they see their gifts under the Christmas tree. The 16 billion extra euros will do nothing. The budget is far smaller than what our parliament wanted and is even lower than the commission's initial proposal. Fewer investments for agriculture, education, research, the environment, and health.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Sabrina PIGNEDOLI (NI, IT), Goodbye to austerity. For the first time, we have the proper transfer of resources to the countries in need. Yes, it is not perfect. But the programmes Horizon, Erasmus, Invest EU have been bolstered. Very important for young people and we've opened the possibility for our own resources. Yes, to the rule of law. Non-negotiable. That is, we defend the independent judiciary and free press.

Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 10-11 December 2020: extracts from the debate on MFF

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