European Integration and Finance and Central Budget Committee's Joint Meeting on the EU Multiannual Financial Framework

Zagreb – Hrvoje Marušić, Director General for European Affairs from the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, presented the Multiannual Financial Framework of the European Union 2014-2020 at the joint meeting of the European Integration Committee and the Finance and Central Budget Committee of the Croatian Parliament.

Identifying political priorities of the European Union in the period from 2014 to 2020, the Multiannual Financial Framework provides a political as well as budgetary framework. The MFF limits expenditure over a fixed period and defines the maximum amounts available for each major category of spending. It is divided into five chapters: Smart and Inclusive Growth, Sustainable Growth, Security and Citizenship, Global Europe and Administration, the EU’s commitments coming to around one thousand billion euros and payments totalling €972 billion.

The Multiannual Financial Framework has been negotiated by the EU institutions since the European Commission presented it last June and the final decision is expected by the end of this year. Regulations on the multiannual financial frameworks are unanimously adopted by the Council of the European Union, with European Parliament’s consent.