Serafin: “We must find the resources to defend ourselves” in EU 2026 Budget

From the Correspondent in Strasbourg -At a time of great insecurity for our continent, making unified decisions becomes crucial, especially regarding the resources to deploy. The EU 2026 budget is a key issue, and the vote on adopting its guidelines, which the European Parliament will hold in Strasbourg on Wednesday (April 2), will give a crucial indication regarding the shape that EU policies will take at a key moment in history.

European Commissioner for Financial Programming and Budget, Piotr Serafin, knows this well. At today’s (March 31) plenary session of the Parliament, he called on MEPs to commit to a “strong budget” for Europe’s security and sustainability.  “At a time of mounting global pressures, we must find the resources to defend itself, support our partners, and invest in its own competitiveness,” the commissioner said, recalling how a strong budget can meet these challenges. There is certainly no shortage of constraints: Serafin pointed out that the limited resources of the multi-annual financial framework are a strong brake on the EU’s ambitions and that room for maneuvering to respond to crises is still very limited. Money for defense is needed, but so is a strong economic base: “We must not forget cohesion and food security; we will do our part for that,” the commissioner stressed.

The budget text, the result of the agreement of five political groups, has already sparked protests from minority MEPs, and there have been several proposed amendments. The next step after Wednesday’s vote will be the first trilogue, to be held on April 8, at which the Commission will discuss the Parliament’s and the Council’s orientations and seek an agreement on the timetable for the budget procedure. On the other hand, the statement of estimates by the Commission will be at the beginning of June, while the communication of the final needs of the 2026 budget, which will be known when the letter of the amendment is submitted, will come in October of this year.