Europe is facing what may be its most difficult negotiations yet to agree on the next seven-year Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for the period 2028–2034.
The negotiations are constrained both by financial realities and by political timing.
To overcome these hurdles, the inclusion of additional financial resources outside the MFF framework may once again prove to be the political sweetener needed to reach a compromise.
In 2020, that sweetener was the €577bn Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the EU’s landmark post-pandemic recovery instrument financed through joint borrowing.
While a new round of joint borrowing is politically unrealistic this time, extending the lifecycle of the RRF beyond the end of 2026 and allowing member states to access allocated but undrawn funds could provide a comparable political incentive.
