Breakdown of the Commission s May 2020 proposals on the MFF and NGEU

When the coronavirus pandemic dramatically changed the socio-economic situation in the EU, the unfinished MFF negotiations appeared as an opportunity to introduce the measures needed to get the economy back on its feet. In the recovery package, together with the proposal for the temporary recovery instrument (Next Generation EU) amounting to €750 billion (see below), the Commission presented an amended proposal for the 2021-2027 MFF worth €1.1 trillion (all figures in this briefing are in 2018 prices except where otherwise stated). By channelling the resources from Next Generation EU through already planned and new EU budgetary programmes and instruments, the Commission significantly increased the overall amounts to be spent in the coming years for the recovery and resilience of the EU economy, but also introduced changes to the MFF structure and distribution of resources under individual headings (Figure 1). Moreover, as the amended MFF proposal builds on the progress made in the negotiations, in particular the results of the meeting of EU leaders on 20 February 2020, it differs from the one put forward two years earlier in various respects.