The MEPs shaping the EU’s next budget

Who holds the power in the European Parliament over the EU’s proposed €2 trillion budget, and which internal disputes have now been resolved?

The European Commission presented its proposal for the bloc’s next seven-year budget proposal last July. Since then, EU countries and the Parliament have begun internal negotiations on changes that could significantly reshape the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).

The Commission’s plan would merge 52 existing programmes into 16 to simplify and focus EU spending. Most of the budget now resides in five cross-cutting files, but at least 26 legal texts would still govern specific policy areas.

EU countries aim to reach a compromise on the main budget by the end of 2026, which must be agreed unanimously, leaving enough time to hash out all legal texts before the framework takes effect in 2028.

The Parliament’s four centrist political groups supporting Commission President Ursula von der Leyen – centre-right EPP, centre-left S&D, liberal Renew and the Greens – need to stick together to approve the MFF by a qualified majority.

Progress, however, had been slowed for months by internal disputes over who should lead work on the five key files – until now. Who are the MEPs shaping the Parliament’s position on the EU’s next budget?

1. The main file: National and Regional Partnership Plans

The biggest sticking point in Parliament was deciding who would lead on the budget’s biggest file: the €894 billion National and Regional Partnership Plans (NRPPs), covering farmer subsidies, regional subsidies, and migration-related funds. The plan merges funding from at least 15 budget lines from the previous budget.

These three lawmakers have emerged as rapporteurs from the budget (BUDG), regional (REGI) and agriculture (AGRI) committees, and questioned their three Commissioner counterparts on the controversial file on Monday. 

S&D, Renew, and the Greens fought the idea that the EPP group would hold both the REGI and BUDG rapporteurships on the file. 

“Promises have been betrayed,” said French S&D lawmaker Jean-Marc Germain after the EPP secured the REGI rapporteurship. The EPP argued that it is fair that the largest party should hold a dominant position.

2.  European Competitiveness Fund (ECF)

The €234 billion ECF is the EU’s new industrial flagship designed to plug its massive investment gap vis-à-vis the US and China, consolidating some 14 programmes from the previous budget. In addition to spending flexibility on defence, space, digital, clean tech, health, and biotechnology, the fund will offer loans and guarantees to help “unlock” private capital for European companies. 

ECF work will be led by ITRE, the industrial committee:

While Bosse is not formally an ECF rapporteur, she will take charge of the work in the Parliament’s budget committee. Through its “budgetary oversight” powers, the committee has formal say even on files it does not lead. 

Through Bosse, a member of the health (SANT) and environment (ENVI) committees, the two committees gain an indirect channel of influence on the key file, after the EPP sided with the far right in November to block them off in favour of ​​an Ehler-dominated ITRE.

https://www.euractiv.com/section/economy-jobs/news/von-der-leyen-moves-to-merge-green-defence-space-funds-in-new-eu-budget-law/

3. Horizon 

Horizon Europe is the EU’s research spending programme, proposed at €175 billion and closely connected to the ECF. It funds basic research through the European Research Council, cross-border collaborative research projects, and deep tech investments through the European Innovation Council (EIC).

German EPP lawmaker Christian Ehler (ITRE) will also lead the Parliament’s work on Horizon.

4. Global Europe Fund (GEF)
The €200 billion Global Europe Fund (GEF) is the EU’s foreign policy fund, providing development aid and supporting EU membership candidates such as Ukraine. It will be led by the development (DEVE) and foreign affairs (AFET) committees:

A lawmaker from the Greens will lead work on the file in the budget committee. However, the group has not yet decided who that will be, two officials said. 

5. Own resources: Where is the money for the budget coming from?

To be less dependent on direct national contributions from EU countries, the Commission proposed raising €407 billion for the next budget through new EU-wide levies on tobacco, large companies, electronic waste, and carbon emissions. Work on this plan will be led by the following MEPs from the budget committee:

Bird’s eyes 

In addition to working on the specific files, two rapporteurs and two supporting shadow rapporteurs from BUDG are responsible for drafting an interim report that should help define the Parliament’s negotiating position on the budget as a whole. The report and future work on Parliament’s overall position are led by the following:

The interim report converges opinions from 15 other parliamentary committees. As of 15 January, all 15 lawmakers in charge of drafting those opinions have been named.

Finally, the leaders of the Parliament’s political groups will be centrally involved in negotiations, and so will chairs of the most relevant committees  – like BUDG, ITRE, REGI, AGRI and CONT, the budgetary control committee.

Rapporteurs and ‘budgetary oversight’ leads in BUDG, including those on smaller files, are listed below.

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