Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF)<\/strong><\/a>, and instead called for a bigger and more ambitious budget. \u00a0<\/p>\nBy 23 votes in favour, nine against and two abstentions, MEPs adopted their vision for a simpler, more flexible, and people-focused budget\u2014one that prioritises climate action, the digital transition, and employment, while responding to ongoing geopolitical challenges.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe want people and regions at the centre of the next MFF. We need strong investments to boost strategic autonomy, economic resilience, and green goals while leaving no one behind,\u201d said Carla Tavares (Portugal\/S&D), one of the two leading MEPs in the file.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Although the Commission\u2019s official proposal is not expected before summer 2025, MEPs are already concerned that the future spending ceiling will fall short in addressing a growing list of crises, including Russia\u2019s war of aggression against Ukraine and the US retreating from its global role.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we expect Europe to do more to face current challenges, we have to equip it with sufficient instruments and the budget is a key instrument in this respect,\u201d said leading MEP Siegfried Muresan (Romania\/EPP), stressing the report\u2019s call for an increase in the next MFF. \u00a0<\/p>\n
The current MFF totals \u20ac1.2 trillion, or 1% of the bloc\u2019s GDP (excluding post-pandemic recovery funds), with most of the funding allocated to agricultural subsidies and policies aimed at reducing the socio-economic gap between the EU\u2019s richest and poorest regions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, for the next budget, the Commission has already signalled that difficult decisions will be needed to balance traditional priorities with newer and more urgent ones, including security and defence.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe EU must maximise the impact of every euro it spends, focusing on EU priorities and objectives where EU action is most needed,” the Commission stated in its February communication titled \u201cThe road to the next multiannual financial framework\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The EU executive is currently considering a redesign of the 2028\u201334 MFF, proposing a national plan for each member state that would tie investments to reforms\u2014mirroring the structure of the post-pandemic recovery funds. Parliament, however, is firmly against this approach.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe reject the \u2018One National Plan per Member State\u2019 model proposed by the European Commission, which we believe cannot serve as the basis for shared management spending post-2027,\u201d Muresan reiterated.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Instead, MEPs in BUDG are advocating for a structure that guarantees parliamentary oversight and includes regional and local actors in the decision-making process.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Parliament\u2019s report also calls for additional EU-wide taxes, or own resources\u2014one of only two ways the EU can finance its budget, the other being direct contributions from member states.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout fresh revenue, EU programmes will face cuts or force taxpayers to bear the burden,\u201d Muresan warned, particularly as the EU must still determine how to repay debt from the post-pandemic funds, estimated at around \u20ac30 billion annually from 2028.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Additionally, BUDG MEPs agreed that more joint borrowing would be a viable option to address large-scale EU-wide crises.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Parliament\u2019s position must still be endorsed by the full plenary during the next session in Strasbourg, scheduled for 5\u20138 May.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ADVERTISEMENT MEPs in the\u00a0budgets’\u00a0committee (BUDG) have said no to the European Commission\u2019s idea to have one cash pot…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44093,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[1194,2000,12921,299,5187,2557,1699,20730],"class_list":{"0":"post-44092","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-budget","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-eu-budget","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-european","13":"tag-european-commission","14":"tag-european-union","15":"tag-european-parliament"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114387848015736365","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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