EU budget, Serafin: “Our proposal builds on the momentum of the Recovery Plan, which cannot be renewed”

Brussels – The proposed multiannual financial framework for the EU (MFF or QFP 2028–2034) can bridge the gap left by the expiry of the post-pandemic recovery programme NextGenerationEU and the Recovery Fund, provided it is approved as presented by the European Commission. This was clarified by the Commissioner for the Budget, Piotr Serafin, in response to a parliamentary question tabled by the EPP, which called for the establishment of a permanent mechanism along the lines of the one that has financed Member States’ recovery to date. 

The parliamentary question tabled by the Greek MEP Georgios Aftias (New Democracy) highlights how, within the European People’s Party (EPP), some consider it necessary to replicate this special financial instrument, highlighting a rift within a political group that has always made it clear that the NGEU – which includes the Recovery Fund – was intended to be an exception. At the same time, it highlights how the EPP-led Commission has sought to identify the most feasible political and legal means to replicate the effects of the post-pandemic recovery programme through a multiannual budget, despite objections to its overall size.

Serafin makes this clear when he points out that the Commission has proposed an “ambitious” budget of 1.98 trillion euros at current prices for the period 2028–2034 (1,763 billion euros at constant prices, Ed.), equivalent to 1.26 per cent of the EU’s Gross National Income, and that this budget “will allow the EU to build on the momentum created by NextGenerationEU and deliver on the tasks and responsibilities with which it has been entrusted,” provided, however, it is approved as proposed – a reminder for the Heads of State and Government. 

The Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), after all, was designed as a temporary and exceptional instrument in response to the COVID-19 crisis and, “therefore, not a permanent EU budget programme,” Serafin noted. The only alternative to this deadline is the budget proposal drawn up by the European Commission. Member States have been warned.