Edgars Rinkēvičs underlined in his address that the current proposal for the EU Multiannual Financial Framework was unacceptable since it did not honour the commitment made in 2013 to even out the differences in the levels of direct payments among all EU Member States.
And while much of the media's attentnion was focussed on attempts by UK Prime Minister Theresa May to save herself domestically by winning fresh concessions from EU leaders, Rinkēvičs said the UK's disappearance from the European scene and a corresponding drop in funding should not be used as an excuse to cut cohesion payments, describing any such move as not acceptable to Latvia.
“Brexit cannot be a reason for reducing the amounts of cohesion funding and direct payments under the common agricultural policy in the European Union’s next multiannual budget,” the Latvian Foreign Minister said.
The Minister also voiced the opinion that convergence of living standards that would narrow disparities between EU regions should be the top priority in the discussion on the next multiannual financial framework for 2021–2027.
