Future of EU finances – Commissioner Oettinger takes the discussion on EU’s next multiannual budget to Romania and Bulgaria

Commissioner Günther H. Oettinger in charge of Budget and Human Resources is visiting Romania on 26 October and Bulgaria on 27 October as part of his tour across EU Member States aimed to gather views on the future of EU finances and the post-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). In Romania, the Commissioner will meet with the country’s President Mr Klaus Iohannis, the Prime Minister Mr Mihai Tudose as well as with Mr Ionuț Mișa, Minister of Public Finance, Mr Victor Negrescu, Minister of European Affairs, Mr Marius Nica, Minister of EU Funds and Ms Elena Georgescu, state secretary. Mr Oettinger will visit the Romanian Parliament and speak with members of the Budget, Finance and European Affairs Committees of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. Commissioner Oettinger will also deliver a keynote speech at the conference “10 years of EU membership: from cohesion to convergence” in the National Bank of Romania and discuss the challenges ahead of the EU budget at a Citizens’ Dialogue event in the Bucharest University of Economic Studies. In Bulgaria, Commissioner Oettinger will meet with Prime Minister Mr Boyko Borissov, Ms Ekaterina Zaharieva, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Vladislav Goranov, Minister of Finance and Ms Lilyana Pavlova, Minister for Bulgaria’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The Commissioner will also speak with Bulgaria’s President Mr Rumen Radev. Commissioner Oettinger will visit the Bulgarian Parliament and meet with members of the Committees on Budget and Finance and on European Affairs and Oversight of the European Funds. The Commissioner will also have a discussion with students from the Sofia University. The meetings in Romania and Bulgaria are part of the Commissioner’s tour aimed to gather the broadest possible views on the future of EU finances – #MFFtour27. The Commission kicked off this debate on 28 June 2017 with the publication its Reflection paper on the future of EU finances, also available in Romanian and Bulgarian. Stakeholder views will be taken into account when preparing the next MFF, to be presented in May 2018.