Tour 4

Commissioner Serafin travelled to Sweden to engage in crucial discussions about the EU's financial future. First on his agenda, a meeting with the EU Minister Jessica Rosencrantz, providing an opportunity to explore Sweden’s priorities for the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), and the topics on the rule of law and the EU’s support to Ukraine.

She explained that Sweden’s key priority is competitiveness and that the rule of law remains pivotal. On the design of the next EU Budget, the Minister highlighted that Sweden supports simplification, fewer programmes, and performance-based budgeting, though implementation must avoid being overly cumbersome. The discussion also focused on defence and on the programme SAFE. New Own Resources were as well part of the discussion. 

On the same day, in the beautiful context of the Swedish Parliament Library, Commissioner Serafin also met with members of the Swedish Parliament (Riksdagen) to discuss key policy areas, ensuring that Sweden’s voice is heard in shaping the MFF and the EU's financial strategy moving forward. This visit highlights the importance of collaboration between EU institutions and national governments in securing a prosperous future for Europe.

During the discussion with the Members of the Parliament, many topics were addressed: respect for the Rule of Law, the role of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and Cohesion in the next EU Budget, and Competitiveness, including the leveraging of private investment. Increased focus on valorisation, as well as an agenda for human capital and skills were focal points of the dialogue.

As Commissioner Piotr Serafin continued his journey through Sweden, his following stop focused on the EU’s commitment to boosting competitiveness: meeting with the beneficiaries of EU funding. The participants to this meeting were four Swedish authorities: The Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth (Tillväxtverket), Vinnova (Sweden's innovation agency), the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (Naturvårdsverket), the Swedish Energy Agency (Energimyndigheten), as well as the Swedish Board of Agriculture (Jordbruksverket), and the Swedish ESF Council (Svenska ESF-rådet). The Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR) provided a perspective on the importance of EU fund for competitiveness at the local and regional level.

There were twelve presentations, which highlighted that EU funding instruments have improved and currently work well. Swedish representatives emphasized that EU funds help scale successful programs and maintain competitiveness amid global challenges, though scaling remains difficult with talent moving abroad. Key concerns included slow funding processes, overregulation, lack of predictability, cumbersome fund harmonization, difficulties combining funds, and bureaucratic reporting. Participants stressed the importance of maintaining a regional focus and ensuring predictability rather than maximizing funding amounts.

To end the day, Commissioner Serafin had a working dinner with Christian Danielsson, State secretary and MFF sherpa. The discussion revolved around New Own Resources, green and competitiveness issues, Rule of Law, current challenges, defence, and support to Ukraine.

Before leaving Sweden for Finland, Commissioner Serafin met with the Swedish Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson. She shared that the next MFF should prioritize and focus in particular on growth and productivity, with a focus on reforms linked to investment and the Capital Markets Union. She supports simplifying and merging funds to reduce overlap and enhance coherence, with emphasis on national ownership of plans. She welcomed the Commission’s approach to defense funding across various instruments. 

Commissioner Serafin started his visit in Finland by exchanging with the country’s Prime Minister, Petteri Orpo. Other participants to this meeting were the State Secretary, and the EU Sherpa to the Prime Minister. 

he discussions focused on the next MFF and about funding for the Finnish eastern border.

Commissioner Serafin and Prime Minister Orpo discussed Finland’s priorities, including security and defence along its 1,300 km border with Russia, support for Ukraine, competitiveness, agriculture, and the green transition. They addressed the socio-economic impact of the closed eastern border, EU energy independence, the importance of Horizon Europe and InvestEU, and the need for private investment. Other topics included the rule of law, the EU SAFE defence instrument, budget flexibilities, Finland’s cohesion fund allocation, defence as a theme in the next MFF, and enlargement timelines.

How the Government works - Finnish Government

Members of Parliament pointed to competitiveness and security as the key priority for Europe and the EU budget. They also highlighted their support for Horizon, as a merit-based programme with funding based on excellence, and insisted on the importance of scale-up. 

During the meeting with the Committee, topics such as CAP and support to food production within Europe, but also future national plans and international trade in view of the recent global events were discussed. 

Accompanied by the Minister for European affairs and ownership steering, the visit to the Vaalimaa border station was a signal of cooperation between the Commission and the Member States, reassuring Finnish citizens, and more generally European citizens, of the continued EU’s commitment to address the regional security and geopolitical concerns stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine and to maintain growth and jobs in those regions. By visiting the station, Commissioner Serafin gained firsthand understanding of the conditions and the challenges faced by local authorities in managing the border, which helps towards a more efficient budget allocation and policies. 

The Finnish coast guard and border guard are very active surveilling the EU border and greatly appreciate the financial support coming from the EU. The border guard is protecting a 1300 km border with Russia and actively stopping organised illegal border crossings, meanwhile the coast guard monitors naval traffic. 

The security situation and closing of the border has a major impact on the local economy, with the transport and tourism sectors heavily affected (before the closing, Vaalima was the busiest land border with around 3 million passages per year and counted for 90% of total land trade in goods). 

The last stop on Commissioner Serafin’s agenda was at the Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT). Here, the Commissioner engaged in discussions on the role of EU-funded research projects, with a particular focus on EU funds aimed at strengthening e-technologies and clean energy research as well as on the funding of LUT scientific facilities. Providing EU funding to universities across the Union means investing in Europe’s future, as it allows universities to carry out high-quality research, improve educational offerings and enhance collaboration with higher education bodies in other Member States. More specifically, providing universities with the required financial tools to deepen research on e-technologies and clean energy enables them to advance on those cutting-edge issues that define Europe’s competitiveness and economic growth, ensuring that Europe remains at the forefront of higher education and research. 

Finland is advanced in the clean energy transition and energy independent from Russia. The administrators of the projects called for improved collaboration science-business and continued efforts to simplify administrative processes.