ABSTRACT
At the outset of the negotiations, the Commission’s position on financial resources was supported by Spain, Portugal, Greece, Belgium and most of the new Member States. With an overall budgetary ceiling of 1.24 per cent of EU Gross National Income (GNI), this involved an increase in Cohesion policy spending at or beyond the existing 0.45 per cent of EU GDP. A very different view was taken by the richer EU countries, six of which (Austria, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom) advocated a limit on expenditure of one per cent of GNI. An intermediate position was held by countries such as Finland, Ireland and Italy, some of which suggested a budget of 1.1–1.14 per cent of GNI. There was also concern about the proposed division of funding between old and new Member States, about the absorption limit (among many new Member States), and about the structure of the proposed financial framework.
