The Common Agricultural Policy and the Cohesion Policy remain top of the list among Romania's priorities regarding the EU's 2028 - 2034 budget plan, but they need to be adjusted to the new security and competitiveness goals, MEP Siegfried Muresan, EP co-rapporteur for the bloc's Multiannual Finanacial Framework and Vice-President of the European People's Party Group declared on Monday.
In the EU's next long-term budget, the allocation for the defence and security chapter would be "much higher" than in the current financial framework, under which the 27 member states had only around 15 billion euros available for 7 years, representing just 1.2% of the EU's multiannual budget, Muresan told a roundtable meeting organized by the European Parliament Office in Romania and attended by representatives of several ministries, the business community and NGOs working with European funds.
"Security and defense, on the one hand, along with competitiveness, on the other hand, will be the priorities of the European Union's budget for the next 7 years. I believe that the security and defense allocation will be much higher than now, while in the other areas, including the traditional ones such as the Cohesion Policy and the Common Agricultural Policy, they will remain roughly the same as now, in the same order of magnitude," Siegfried Muresan told AGERPRES at the end of the debate.
He stressed that the net EU contributor states such as Germany, the Scandinavian countries and the Netherlands, prioritize security and defense, but at the same time oppose an "ambitious increase" in the EU budget.
"I don't think an ambitious increase is realistic. Member States cannot contribute much more to the European Union budget because of the tense fiscal-budgetary situation, which is obvious in Romania too. But I believe that small rises in the EU's budget are possible if they are well justified, if they do not exceed a certain level and if they bring added value for the European Union member states," Siegfried Muresan said.
The MEP explained that these additional contributions should be directed towards urgent areas such as security and defense, "in projects none of the member states can carry out on their own, such as a the common European air defense."
The EP co-rapporteur for the future EU Multiannual Finanacial Framework also said that "otherwise, defense investments will target rsearch and innovation, so that allocations are made just once at European level, so that we can acquire the latest technologies in large amounts and at the lowest possible unit price, to ensure the interoperability of the EU member states' armies."
However, at least until now, access to funding for defense or dual-use, civilian and military projects, has been quite difficult from the point of view of business people.
"There are these wagons of money out there, but we don't know how to access them," said Laura Florea, member of the Romanian Business Leaders board of directors, during the round table debates.
Siegfried Muresan attributes this to the fact that security and defense funds are still something new.
"It is clear that the national authorities will set the procurement priorities and will also have to get involved in supporting the domestic defense industry. (...) It is clear, however, that from now on the logic will be to increase domestic military production capacities, which will also bring a positive contribution to economic growth, to job creation," said Muresan.
He also stressed that the member countries will want as much as possible of research and innovation, and of production activities to happen locally "so that in the long term the additional equipment needs are covered to the greatest extent possible from European production."
Romania is a net beneficiary of the EU budget, with a contribution of approximately 32 billion euros and 103 billion euros in funds received. As a result, the Common Agricultural Policy and the Cohesion Policy remain its priorities in the future multiannual budget, despite some necessary adjustments.
"These two policies - the Common Agricultural Policy and the Cohesion Policy - have been the EU's priorities until now. They should not be ignored in the future either, they are at the top of Romania's list of priorities. However, they must be adjusted to the new security and competitiveness priorities. And I believe that here Romania's goals are in line with those of the European Union. Located just two steps away from Ukraine, Romania has a lot to gain from the reinforcement of European security," Muresan also declared.
"We see multiple forms of attack, from disinformation to hybrid and cyber attacks, we have have been victims ourselves in recent months, so everything the European Union will do additionally in this area benefits Romania too," he explained.
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