The EU's proposal for the Multiannual Financial Framework for 2028–2034 provides a satisfactory basis for further negotiations

The proposal significantly changes the structure of the Multiannual Financial Framework. The key innovation is the merging of the current funds for financing cohesion policy, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and internal security into a single €865 billion instrument. In this context, the Commission proposes a single national envelope for Member States in these areas in the form of national and regional partnership plans.

As announced, the Commission is also launching a new centralised €451 billion European Competitiveness Fund to boost innovation and EU competitiveness, which should also be more easily accessible to small and medium-sized enterprises.

A significant proportion of the funds will be used in the coming years to repay loans taken out by the Union for the purpose of financing COVID-19 recovery measures, which formed the basis of the NextGenerationEU instrument.

Regarding the revenue side of the EU budget, the Commission proposes to introduce five new EU own resources.

In the discussions so far, Slovenia has advocated for an ambitious future Multiannual Financial Framework that adequately finances the EU's new priorities, in particular investments in competitiveness, as well as the cohesion policy and the CAP. While Slovenia would have preferred a more ambitious funding proposal, it believes that the European Commission's proposal provides an adequate basis for further negotiations within the Council, given the current circumstances.

Slovenia has made significant progress since the last negotiations and is now at around 90% of the EU27's average development level, thus significantly reducing its development gap with the EU average. It is therefore reasonable to expect that it will receive less cohesion funding in the future. Slovenia welcomes the fact that the proposal for a new financial framework allocates Slovenia a level of cohesion and CAP funding that does not significantly differ from the level of funding it receives in these areas in the current period.

The cohesion policy and the Common Agricultural Policy remain an important source of European funds for Slovenia, as they contribute to its development and that of its regions, while ensuring food security and accessibility. Slovenia will therefore continue to pay special attention to these traditional EU policies in future negotiations.

In recent years, Slovenia has focused on investing in science, innovation and advanced technologies, including the development of modern medicines, supercomputers, and space technologies. In this regard, Slovenia welcomes the European Commission's proposal to allocate significantly more resources to enhancing competitiveness in the next Multiannual Financial Framework. Slovenia has emphasised the need to ensure that small and medium-sized enterprises have access to the Competitiveness Fund's resources.  This will enable Member States such as Slovenia to utilise these funds more effectively in the next medium-term period, offsetting the planned cuts to EU cohesion policy funding.

In connection with its foreign policy priorities, Slovenia also welcomes the planned revision of the Multiannual Financial Framework in the event of EU enlargement. This shows candidate countries that the European Union is committed to the enlargement process.

Slovenia is willing to discuss the introduction of new EU own resources and will carefully consider the proposals presented by the European Commission.