MEPs insist that they won’t allow EU governments to dictate the terms of the bloc’s next seven-year budget, and have called for an extra €25bn in spending on the EU’s foreign policy agenda.
EU Council president Antonio Costa has been tasked to deliver a new compromise before EU leaders meet again on 26 November in Brussels, with the aim to strike a deal during the summit in December – after the Irish proposal failed to gain any support.
As leaders gather in Brussels, they must decide whether to keep pretending each new loan for Ukraine, defence, or other shocks is a one‑time exception, or finally admit that long‑term, risk‑managed joint borrowing has become the EU’s new normal.
MEPs don’t have to meekly accept an EU budget deal, but will they go to war over €141bn in cuts?MEPs and the champions of EU integration point to the parliament’s co-decision powers as proof of the institution’s importance. But will MEPs dare use those powers in a budget fight with governments?
MEPs have instantly rejected a budget proposal by the Irish government, setting the scene for an institutional battle over the 2028-34 EU spending plan.
As national leaders call for massive cuts in the next EU budget, the parliament’s budget chiefs, MEP Siegfried Mureşan and Carla Tavares, warn that slashing EU cash now will undercut Europe’s competitiveness, security and social safety net for years to come.
As Europeans foot the bill for the Iran war while oil firms’ profits surge, the EU Parliament’s left hit a commission-shaped brick wall in Strasbourg.
“I would like to caution against large cuts. It would risk cutting deep into critical priorities that we all together have agreed on,” the EU Commission chief told MEPs during a speech in Strasbourg on Tuesday.
Frugal EU states seeking budget cuts are shooting their own regions in the footDespite joining a frugal ultimatum for EU budget cuts, the Dutch get roughly as much growth from EU investment as they pay in, while narrowing the gap between wealthier and poorer regions.
As the EU seeks budget cuts to break a stalemate in member states’ talks, women’s rights groups are on the chopping bloc, prompting advocates’ concern that important causes are fading from the common agenda.
The EU is negotiating its next long-term budget as countries discuss possible new taxes directly to the EU budget or, on the contrary, funding cuts.
To make best use of the limited funds the EU has available, Europe does not need a commission that measures its success by the amount of money it has been able to spend. It needs a Commission that is willing and able to prioritise and focus EU intervention where it does the most good and is then willing to stand up and defend those priorities against member states’ national interests.
The EU’s ‘Global Europe’ development budget is looking vulnerable as the ‘frugal’ countries and other blocs push for cuts to the 2028-34 EU budget.
The European Commission says that new public procurement rules would allow more flexibility in choosing the best offer, stopping the “race to the bottom” for the lowest bid.
Six European airlines received €10.9bn in free emissions allowances under the EU’s emissions trading scheme, according to new research, as aviation is set to be one of the main battlegrounds in a proposed reform to the system.
Two of parliament’s lead negotiators told EUobserver that they are not impressed by calls from some member states to ‘do more while calling for a weaker budget’
The Irish EU-presidency has prepared a document hoping to “aid consideration” and smooth over differences that have gridlocked negotiations since June.
As the EU pushes to simplify its labyrinth of departments as well as its next budget, the directorate for urban and regional development is set to face severe restructuring – possibly jeopardising Brussels’ ties to local governments across the bloc.
Palantir’s software is now used by French intelligence, German police, the Dutch defence bodies and the Spanish military. They’ve just opened an office in Brussels – yet their global effective tax rate was just 1.4 percent.
Under the current EU budget, social spending through ESF+ amounts to nearly €96bn. According to internal calculations made by European Parliament services, total social spending could fall under the next MFF to between €63bn and €87bn.
