EU Funds

EU Budget: Parliament calls for 10% more for 2028-2034

Agreement in the 'Ursula majority' to increase own resources and save funds for agriculture, cohesion and social spending. The plenary vote is expected at the end of the month, while the heads of state and government will discuss their position next week in Cyprus

by Paolo Riva

17 April 2026

Parlamento Europeo Bruxelles Imagoeconomica

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

A budget that is about 10 per cent richer than the European Commission's proposal in order to adequately finance historical policies and new priorities. This is the position voted in the late afternoon of Wednesday 15 April by the European Parliament's Committee on Budgets on the MFF, the European Multiannual Financial Framework 2028-2034.

"We propose a European budget that is both adequate and predictable for the beneficiaries, addressing the shortcomings of the Commission's initial proposal," said Siegfried Mureşan, Romanian MEP from the People's Party (EPP) and one of the two rapporteurs of the sensitive and extensive file.

The voted position, as already anticipated, calls for a multiannual budget 2028-2034 of EUR 2,014 billion, EUR 197 billion more than the Commission's proposal presented last July and, most importantly, unlike the latter, proposes that the debt repayment of NextGenerationEU (the instrument that financed the post-pandemic recovery plans through joint debt) remain outside the budget.

This has two consequences. The first is that MEPs support the Commission's idea to increase the Union's own resources, i.e. new direct sources of revenue for the EU budget, by around 60 billion per year. "We need new, genuine own resources to finance Europe's increased responsibilities," added the other co-rapporteur, Portuguese socialist Carla Tavares.

The second consequence is that an overall richer MFF makes it possible to maintain the necessary resources for the new European priorities, such as defence and competitiveness, but also to increase the allocations for historical EU policies, which otherwise risked being the most penalised. Among these, the Common Agricultural Policy would benefit significantly (+139 billion) and cohesion, albeit less significantly (+78 billion). But above all, EUR 124 billion would be guaranteed for the European Social Fund.

Finally, with their vote, MEPs emphasised that regional and local authorities should be fully involved in the planning and implementation of the programmes, meeting the concerns expressed by various local authorities across Europe and raised by the European Committee of the Regions.

The vote in the European Parliament's Committee on Budgets saw the position of rapporteurs Mureşan and Tavares approved with 26 votes in favour, 9 against and 5 abstentions. The compromise reached was supported by the EPP, the Socialists and Democrats, the Liberals of Renew Europe and the Greens, the same groups that had voted in favour of Ursula von der Leyen's second mandate as head of the Commission in July 2024. Among the votes in favour was also that of Roberts Zīle, Latvian MEP, among the vice-presidents of the European Parliament and member of the Conservatives and Reformists (ECR). The group was divided, with one vote against and two abstentions, including that of Ruggero Razza of Fratelli d'Italia.

Attention now turns to the plenary session at the end of the month, when the final vote is expected. Meanwhile, the heads of state and government of the 27 member states will meet on 23 and 24 April in Cyprus, which holds the rotating EU presidency. In the letter of invitation sent to the leaders, European Council President Antonio Costa wrote that there is a need for "an open dialogue on how we can reconcile our ambitions with an adequate level of funding, including on the importance of new own resources".

The positions of the EU states meeting in the Council are far removed from the one just voted by the European Parliament, but Costa wrote that the aim of the summit will be to 'prepare the ground for an agreement by the end of the year'.