On Wednesday (15 April), MEPs on the European Parliament’s powerful Budget Committee endorsed their negotiating position on the 2028–2034 EU budget – known as the MFF – Multiannual Financial Framework – including a breakdown of the amounts they want to allocate to each EU funding programme.
10% increase in overall budget
The Parliament wants the budget set at 1.27% of EU GNI, with debt servicing for the NextGenerationEU recovery fund (0.11% of GNI) kept outside the budget ceilings. This represents a 10% increase compared to the Commission’s proposal.
“We propose a European budget that is both sufficient and predictable for beneficiaries, addressing the shortcomings of the Commission’s initial proposal. Through a moderate 10% increase, we ensure adequate resources for new priorities,” said MEP Siegfried Mureșan (EPP, Romania), one of Parliament’s co-rapporteurs.
Ringfenced €8.9 billion EU4Health
Mureșan said that many parliamentary committees had demanded increases in areas where support is very broad among MEPs. This will be funded by raising the Competitiveness Fund from €207 billion to €234 billion.
The first area he highlighted was the EU4Health programme, where Parliament wants a ring-fenced €8.9 billion fund. The Horizon research…
