The European Parliament is calling for a budget of over €2 trillion, with increased spending, new own resources and tough negotiations with member states for the next 7 years.
With the backdrop of increasing geopolitical pressures, the green and digital transition and the need to strengthen European competitiveness, a crucial negotiation opens in Brussels on the size and philosophy of the next multiannual budget of the European Union for the period 2028-2034, with the European Parliament demanding significantly higher resources, new financial instruments and stronger support for agriculture, regions, defence, and innovation and education, at a time when Member States appear divided over the possibility of increasing national contributions and introducing new European revenues, creating a complex and ambiguous negotiating field that will determine the economic direction and policy priorities of the Union for the next decade.
A tough negotiation with member states portends the 10% increase called for by MEPs, with a focus on financing priorities and new European resources, as ERTnews.gr points out.
High bar
The European Parliament has set a high bar for the next seven-year European Union budget (2028-2034), adopting its negotiating position by a large majority yesterday, marking the start of a particularly tough institutional showdown with member states. With 370 votes in favour, 201 against and 84 abstentions, MEPs are calling for a budget of more than €2 trillion, equivalent to 1.38% of EU GDP, compared to the 1.26% proposed by the Commission.
At the “core” of MEPs’ position is the need for a stronger, more ambitious budget that acts as an investment tool. MEPs are calling for almost €200 billion in additional spending to support agriculture, regions and industrial competitiveness, as well as enhanced funding for innovation, green and digital transition, defence and education.
At the same time, they reject the “one plan per member state” model promoted by the Commission, warning that such an approach would undermine cohesion, and insist on maintaining separate funds for the Common Agricultural Policy, cohesion and the European Social Fund.
In search of new resources to fund the budget
The stakes are high as the EU is called upon to fund new priorities such as competitiveness, defence and security, and to continue traditional cohesion policies. On the other hand, from 2028 the debt repayment of the NextGenerationEU Recovery Fund starts, which the Parliament wants outside the spending ceilings, further increasing budgetary needs.
In this context, MEPs are calling for new own resources for the EU, including from digital services and big tech companies, to finance the budget without overburdening national contributions.
Negotiations are expected to be particularly difficult, as the final decision requires unanimity in the Council, where countries such as Germany and the Netherlands favour a more limited budget and budgetary discipline.
New and old priorities, debt and national contributions in the equation
Responding to the “pressures”, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stressed today in the European Parliament that the “equation” of the next budget is inevitably difficult: more investment in new and old priorities, debt repayment and, at the same time, restraint on national contributions. According to her, the only realistic solution is to introduce new own resources. “Without them,” she warned, “the choice is clear: either higher national contributions or less fiscal capacity, i.e. less Europe when more is needed.”
The Cyprus Presidency of the EU Council is expected to present in June a first negotiating box (negobox) with indicative figures and numbers. Officially, the goal is to conclude negotiations by the end of the year, although several European diplomats consider the timetable too optimistic.
