Multi-annual budget: the regions reject the Irish proposal

Brussels – The message is clear: the proposal for the EU’s multiannual budget for 2028–2034, which “sees the Council involved in the Irish Presidency’s Nego-Box is ‘wrong’.” The reason? “It impoverishes the regions, the standards of citizenship, and runs counter to the vision of Europe that has been built up over recent decades.” This was stated today (14 October) by the chair of the Socialist Group at the European Committee of the Regions, Luca Menesini, at a press briefing at the European Parliament in Brussels, on the sidelines of the Committee of the Regions’ plenary session, during which he presented the appeal launched by Italian and European progressive figures – including six regional presidents, MEPs, and representatives of the European Committee of the Regions – against the proposal to reduce the EU’s next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). “If this proposal goes ahead, we will vote against it within our institutions,” warned Menesini.

The appeal is entitled “A Europe of the regions, not a Europe of cuts” and is backed by a coalition of progressive Italian and European figures, including six regional presidents, MEPs, and representatives of the European Committee of the Regions. The document has received the support of Menesini, of the heads of delegation to the European Parliament, Nicola Zingaretti (PD, S&D) and Pasquale Tridico (M5S, La Sinistra), together with the regional presidents, Antonio Decaro (Puglia), Stefania Proietti (Umbria), Alessandra Todde (Sardinia), Michele de Pascale (Emilia-Romagna), Eugenio Giani (Tuscany), and Roberto Fico (Campania). Furthermore, the appeal is still circulating in order to secure the support of other local administrators. “We will also be working with mayors, starting with those in the major cities, and we will, of course, present this to our representatives who sit on both the Council and the Committee,” Menesini announced.

In the document, the signatories criticise both the European Commission’s proposal and, above all, the proposal put forward by the Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU for a cut of €141 billion, equivalent to 8 per cent of the future EU budget. According to the appeal’s supporters, this is a move to accommodate the demands of the so-called “frugal” countries. The negotiated compromise (Nego-Box) proposed by the Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU is characterised by further cuts on top of those already proposed by the Cypriot government, the country that held the presidency in the first half of the year, prior to Ireland. In particular, for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and cohesion policy, programmes brought together for the first time under a single funding instrument, there is an intended reduction of €27.8 billion compared with the previous proposal from the Cypriot Presidency (942 billion).

The MEP and head of the PD (S&D) delegation, Nicola Zingaretti, has stated that with this Nego-Box “Brussels is complicit in the exclusion of the Italian regions as managing authorities for European funds.” According to Zingaretti, the current MFF is “unacceptable both in terms of the quantity of resources, which are scarce, and in terms of quality, because these regions are excluded from European programming.” Along the same lines, the MEP from the Five Star Movement (The Left), Pasquale Tridico, argues that “this unacceptable budget must be opposed by every means possible” because “it takes over €140 billion away from the regions and from cohesion policy, the European Union’s most important policy.” In this context, he emphasised, “what is even more infuriating is the fact that, at the same time, defence spending has increased fivefold.”

The President of the Tuscany Region, Eugenio Giani, has agreed. “It is unacceptable that the cohesion funds should be cut by 20–25 per cent, because it is on these funds that we base our policies.” In concrete terms, we are talking about “free nurseries, books for those on low incomes, and the inclusion of those who are not self-sufficient,” as well as “policies for environmental protection and the promotion of public transport.” The President of the Sardinia Region, Alessandra Todde, also voiced criticism, highlighting that “the Sardinian citizens, like those from other regions, view Europe through the lens of cohesion funds” and that the centralisation of these resources “means pushing Europe even further away from our regions and our country.” The President of the Umbria Region, Stefania Proietti, went on to clarify that it is not possible to “defend inland areas without cohesion funds,” and that these very territories “must be seen as resources: All citizens are equal; we need cohesion funds; we need to design tailor-made projects and services. Only those who know the regions know how to apply and implement European policies.” Finally, the President of the Puglia Region, Antonio Decaro, explained that in recent years “the cohesion policies have helped to reduce disparities, enabling parents to go out and look for work thanks to the availability of a nursery, and have enabled young people to find stable employment through a training course.” For this reason, “centralising those resources so that only Member States have access to them, thereby undermining the virtuous relationship between Europe and the regions, means taking those resources away from citizens.”

“The European budget is where Europe decides what it wants to be. Today, that choice risks being the wrong one,” reads the text, which argues that behind the word “simplification” lies “a vision of a smaller, more centralised Union that is further removed from its citizens.” The signatories warn that they will not accept “a budget that cuts back on cohesion, weakens agriculture, and erases the role of the regions and cities.”

English version by the Translation Service of Withub