General Affairs Council

Thursday 14th June 2012 Written Statements

[The Minister for Europe (Mr David Lidington)]

I attended the General Affairs Council (GAC) which met in Brussels on 29 May.

The GAC was chaired by the Danish EU presidency, Mr Nicolai Wammen, Minister for European Affairs. A provisional report of the meeting can be found at:

http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/EN/genaff/129266.pdf

Multiannual Financial Framework

The General Affairs Council focused on the proposed multiannual financial framework (MFF) for the period between 2014 and 2020. The meeting was the first discussion of all areas of the MFF and looking at all areas of the latest version of the “negotiating box text”. This text is not binding but will set the tone and the direction of future discussions on the MFF.

The version of the negotiating box text discussed at the General Affairs Council, which I have deposited in the Library of the House, contains positive language on the need to focus EU spending on areas that promote growth. It also explicitly states that,

“it is essential that the future MFF reflects the consolidation efforts being made by Member States to bring deficit and debt onto a more sustainable path”.

This is helpful to us; however there were less helpful parts of the text with options for macro-economic conditionality and reform to own resources, including the rebate and the possibility of a financial transaction tax.

I argued that text relating to the UK rebate should not be in the negotiating box for discussion, as any changes to the own resources decision, including those required to amend the UK rebate, require consensus among member states. The UK would not agree to any changes to the UK rebate or any new own resources such as a financial transaction tax and therefore their inclusion was pointless.

At the meeting I also reiterated points I have made at previous meetings of the GAC: that at least €100 billion of savings had to be made from the proposals made by the Commission and that reste à liquider (RAL or unspent commitments) remained an important issue to be resolved.

June European Council

There was also a presentation of the agenda for the June European Council which will cover the MFF, justice and home affairs, and possible foreign policy issues if the circumstances allow. The main focus of the June European Council however will be on the growth agenda, in particular the completion of the European Semester—which gives macro-economic and fiscal guidance to member states, and the ideas the European Council called for in March.

G20 Summit in Los Cabos

The presidency also discussed the preparations for the G20 summit in Los Cabos. The discussion followed the priorities for the EU set out in the joint letter from EU President Herman Van Rompuy and the President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso to member states. These were: growth and employment; strengthening the international financial architecture; progress on financial sector reform; and tackling food security and promoting development.

Croatia

Finally, I welcomed the Commission’s recent report on Croatia, underlined the importance of continued monitoring of the fulfilment of commitments, and noted that completing the process successfully and credibly was important for both Croatia and the EU.