EU budget meetings to go ahead, but Covid-19 'closely monitored'

European Council meetings and summits, including those in relation to the EU budget, are set to go ahead as planned – although the coronavirus (Covid-19) situation will be “closely monitored”.

A European Council official confirmed to AgriLand that: “All meetings taking place at the council should go ahead as planned and we are not considering cancelling any of them.

“However, this is an evolving situation. We will closely monitor and remain in close contact with the responsible health authorities in order to strictly follow guidance on the organisation of these meetings,” the official added.

The next European Council summit is set for March 26. Though the EU budget – formally referred to as the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) – is not listed on the official agenda for that meeting, the issue may still come up for discussion, particularly in light of the most recent summit.

On February 21, the council summit on the MFF for 2021 to 2027 came to an inconclusive end, with the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) being a significant sticking point.

Speaking at the close of the summit, European Council President Charles Michel commented: “Unfortunately, today we have observed that it was not possible to reach an agreement. We have observed that we need more time.

“We have worked very hard to try and reconcile the different concerns, the different interests, the different opinions on the table. But we need more time. It means that we will see in the future how it is possible to work on this topic in order to succeed, in order to get an agreement in the council,” Michel added.

The council president did not give a commitment on when official talks might resume, but confirmed: “We will need to have some informal consultations in the next days and weeks in order to see what are the best ways of working and what is realistic.”