MEPs reject the reduction of the EU budget

The 2.3 billion euro reduction of the European Union budget for next year proposed by the representatives of the member states was rejected, yesterday, by the members of the Budget Committee of the European Parliament, according to Euractiv.

In their common position, the European states proposed reducing the budget for 2024 from 189.3 billion euros to 187 billion euros. Most budget lines should be revised downwards and appropriations for humanitarian aid should be increased. The cut was heavily criticized by MEPs, as the proposed budget for 2024 is already lower than the current year's due to high inflation rates. At the same time, the EU's responsibilities - and costs - have increased significantly.

Parliament, which is now expected to give its opinion on the Council's position, is likely to reject any budget cuts that could jeopardize the implementation of EU policies, especially as MEPs want a bigger budget to cope potential crises.

"As the chief negotiator of the European Parliament, I presented in the Committee for Budgets, the working document that evaluates the position of the Council of the European Union regarding the draft EU budget for 2024. In this document, I showed that the Parliament cannot accept the cuts proposed by the Council because it would make the EU budget even less flexible to react to new contingencies. The budget proposal of the European Union for 2024, as presented by the European Commission, has a value of approximately 190 billion euros. There are sufficient funds to finance the Union's traditional priorities, such as the Cohesion Policy and the Common Agricultural Policy, from which Romania receives most of the non-refundable European funds and which will be very important for our country next year. However, the draft budget does not provide enough funds for the European Union's new priorities, caused by the war unleashed by Russia on our borders, such as strengthening security within member states, supporting Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, and supporting EU people and businesses who they suffered because of this war. At the same time, we do not have enough flexibility in the budget to react to unforeseen situations, as was the case last year with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. That's why the European Union's budget needs increases, not cuts", said yesterday, the European deputy Siegfried Mureşan (PNL/PPE), on the official Facebook page.

Mr. Mureşan considers unjustified the decision of the Council of the European Union to reduce the annual budget of the European Union, proposing a cut of approximately 770 million euros in commitment credits. "Next year's EU budget needs more flexibility and increases in certain areas, not cuts. That is precisely why it is a priority to revise the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021 - 2027, based on the revision proposal submitted by the Commission on June 20, 2023. The Multiannual Financial Framework is the one that decides the limits up to which we can increase the annual budgets. Thus, my objective is for the revision of the CFM to take place by the end of the current year, precisely so that the EU Budget 2024 can include enough resources to respond to the needs that have arisen in recent years", said deputy Siegfried Mureşan, who believes that, if the position of the EU Council were to be adopted, four out of seven budget headings would be left with no room for maneuver.

The representatives in the Budget Committee of the political majority in the European Parliament agreed with the position of the rapporteur Siegfried Mureşan and committed to act together against the reductions proposed by the EU Council. MEPs were particularly concerned about high interest rates, which have increased the cost of repaying the pandemic plan known as NextGenerationEU.

"It's a dangerous situation", warned deputy Victor Negrescu (PSD/Alliance of Socialists and Democrats), who added that "we pay the banks more than we give to the Erasmus program".

The MEPs will work in the next period on the amendments that will reflect the Parliament's position, which they will formalize before entering into negotiations with the EU Council. Meanwhile, EU MPs will also push to speed up the revision of the EU's long-term budget (MFF). This is seen as a tool to increase the size of the budget for the following year.

The revision of the MFF is expected to be negotiated in the coming months, but it could take longer than Parliament had hoped. Member states are divided over the Commission's request to increase national contributions to the EU budget.