The European Budget Post-2013 and its Effects on EU-Turkey Relations
autonomous, more fair, more transparent and more simple. This entailed the introduction of one or more genuine individual resources to replace the current GNI-based system and its manifold rebates, exceptions and correction mechanisms. This “own-initiative� report may not have any legislative consequences but it has made an important fact clear, one to be bore in mind in the upcoming negotiations: even without further enlargement that might come along with additional financing needs, the capacity limits of the EU budget in its current form have been reached if not exceeded. 2.4 Budgetary implications for Turkey from the Commission proposal on the future budget In its Communication on the Budget for Europe 2020 [COM(2011)500], the European Commission in effect calls for a budget freeze. While it claims to have followed the call of the European Parliament for an increase of the overall level to 1.11%, this number has only been reached by adding together the foreseen commitments inside and outside the MFF while the amounts outside the MFF are counted as extra. The proposal of the Commission does not foresee the accession of Turkey to the EU. It does, however, present some proposals with regard to policies affecting Turkey as an enlargement country. Given that the Commission proposals only form the basis for the discussions in the Council and the Parliament, the final regulation is likely to differ considerably from the proposal in some areas, particularly in terms of the figures. Nevertheless, the proposals describe the general trend and give an indication of policy priorities. Consequently, the following will give a short overview of the proposals with an impact on Turkey while avoiding going into details (including figures). Then, some general remarks will be made with regard to the state of discussion in the areas of Common Agricultural and Regional Policy as they would be of great interest for Turkey as a member state. 2.4.1 Plans regarding instruments accruing to Turkey as a candidate country Unlike other policy areas in which the Commission wants to reprioritize or cut, the instruments concerning candidate countries should be maintained
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REIMER BOEGE