Parliament’s co-rapporteurs on the EU’s long-term budget expressed serious concerns about the proposed structure submitted by Commission on Wednesday, 16 June. MEPs raised the alarm that some elements of the proposal could sideline the role of the European Parliament. Some policies that have delivered concrete results and improved living standards could be undermined.
Co-rapporteurs on the EU’s long-term budget Siegfried Mureșan (EPP, ROU) and Carla Tavares (S&D, PRT), and co-rapporteurs for own resources Sandra Gómez (S&D, ESP) and Danuše Nerudová (EPP, CZE) in a joint statement criticised that the Commission’s proposal does not allocate sufficient funds for key priorities including competitiveness, cohesion, agriculture, defence, climate adaptation, and investment.
The Commission’s proposal places huge pressure on core priorities and leads to cuts. A stronger EU budget cannot be built on the mistakes of the past. – MEP Siegfried Mureșan (EPP, ROU)
“The current multiannual financial framework (MFF) has clearly shown the risks of putting the repayment of NextGenerationEU interest side by side with programme budgets. It places huge pressure on core priorities and leads to cuts. A stronger EU budget cannot be built on the mistakes of the past,” Mr Mureșan said.
“We will not allow the financing of our key priorities to be compromised by the repayment of NextGenerationEU,” Ms Tavares added .
Member states must bring more money
Ms López and Ms Nerudová, rapporteurs on own resources, welcomed the Commission’s new efforts to break the current stalemate on own resources and to present more options for new sources of revenue for the Union budget. These new proposals would include a tobacco excise duty, a corporate resource for Europe (CORE), and duties on e-waste and e-commerce.
“Without a strong and diversified revenue base – including genuine new own resources that don’t compete with national budgets – the EU will not have the funds it needs,” Ms López stressed.
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No compromise on Parliament’s oversight
The MFF co-rapporteurs are “very alarmed by elements of the proposal that could sideline the role of the European Parliament, the only directly elected institution, as co-legislator with both budgetary and discharge authority”. They insist that any new performance-based mechanism for member states to access funds must include parliamentary oversight. Democratic scrutiny of EU spending can not be circumvented.
“The EU budget must be transparent, and guarantee that Parliament maintains full prerogatives over budget allocation. – MEP Carla Tavares (S&D, PRT)
“The budget is not a cash machine for the European Commission,” warned Siegfried Mureșan. The Romanian MEP vowed to defend Parliament’s power to oversee it. “The proposed budget must be transparent, and guarantee that Parliament maintains full prerogatives over budget allocation and monitoring, backed by a detailed budget structure that allows for meaningful oversight”, Carla Tavares demanded.
