Regardless of the outcome of talks on the European Union's Multiannual Financial Framework, allocations for Croatia in the next seven-year period should remain as defined in the accession treaty, Croatian Deputy Prime Minister Neven Mimica said on Monday in Brussels where he attended as an observer a meeting of the General Affairs Council which discussed the EU budget.
The total effect of Croatia's accession on the seven-year EU budget is 13.741 billion euros in commitments and 9.956 billion in actual payments. The largest part comes from cohesion funds -- 8.7 billion euros.
Mimica said that it was requested at the meeting that an appropriate exemption be found for Croatia for the use of European funds in the first years of the Multiannual Framework. According to the present proposal, funds for one budget year may be negotiated for another two years, and Croatia wants this to be extended to three years, because that would increase its chances of better absorbing available funds.
Another exemption Croatia asked for is a higher limit for the use of cohesion funds in relation to GDP. According to rules, a member state is entitled to to cohesion funds in the maximum amount of 2.5% of its GDP, and Croatia asked for this ceiling to be increased for it, Mimica said.
"The member states mainly talked about their own requests and views of the future European budget so there were no reactions to the Croatian proposals, either from the member states or the European Commission," Mimica said.
Negotiations on the seven-year EU budget are still at the stage of talks, without specific figures. A full agreement is expected to be reached at a special summit in November.
The European Commission has earlier proposed a budget of 1.033 billion euros in commitments (1.08% of the EU's gross national income) and 988 billion euros in payments (1.03% of the EU's gross national income).
