{"id":451560,"date":"2026-04-28T14:03:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T12:03:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/04\/28\/bilancio-pluriennale-il-parlamento-ue-conferma-laumento-da-200-miliardi-via-al-braccio-di-ferro-con-il-consiglio\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T17:58:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T15:58:07","slug":"eu-multiannual-budget-parliament-confirms-200-billion-increase-showdown-with-council-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/04\/28\/eu-multiannual-budget-parliament-confirms-200-billion-increase-showdown-with-council-begins\/","title":{"rendered":"EU multiannual budget: Parliament confirms 200\u2011billion increase, showdown with Council begins"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 An extra 200 billion, on top of the approximately 2,000 billion proposed. Now the European Parliament\u2019s position on the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF 2028\u20132034) is final<\/strong>, leaving no room for doubt: the Chamber has approved the institution\u2019s position in the negotiations on the next budget, confirming the standoff with the Council<\/strong>, which is instead calling for fewer resources, and opening a debate entirely within the European People\u2019s Party (EPP) family. The European centre-right in Parliament has a position, in line with the other groups (Socialists, Liberals, and Greens)<\/strong> in favour of more resources, while within the European Council<\/a> the leaders,<\/strong> now 11 out of 27<\/strong> (Austria, Croatia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, and Hungary), have a completely different stance.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The first to put pressure on the Council is Siegfrid Muresan<\/strong>, Vice-Chair of the EPP Group and rapporteur for the measure: “The European Parliament\u2019s position is clear: we believe it is not possible to do more with less.” So let\u2019s go ahead with the budget increase, because, he argues, \u201cthe debt repayment\u201d of the NextGenerationEU post-pandemic recovery programme \u201cshould not be at the expense of the programmes\u2019 beneficiaries.\u201d<\/b>\u00a0In addition,\u00a0 \u201cwe want a separate budget for agriculture and cohesion, as well as legal certainty,\u201d he states, rejecting the approach of his party colleague, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and the idea of lumping everything together.<\/p>\n

The call for an increase of around 10 per cent (\u20ac200 billion) serves \u00a0this purpose precisely: to exclude from the seven-year budget the repayment of loans taken out from the markets to finance the recovery plans (NRRP), which MEPs are calling for to be managed separately, without affecting EU funds, as proposed by the Commission. Manfred Weber<\/strong>, the EPP group leader and also party president, calls for “a strong and solid budget for the future of the EU,” and seeks to flush out those opposed to this programme: “The moment of truth has arrived,<\/strong>” he argues. “Those who are not prepared to give the EU the necessary resources and tackle the issue of \u2018own resources\u2019 must be honest and tell us that the only alternative is to make cuts.”<\/p>\n

These words fail to convince the Greens, who hit back: “On the one hand, Manfred Weber talks about a strong Europe; on the other, [German Chancellor] Friedrich Merz is presenting documents to Ursula von der Leyen containing reform proposals in favour of deregulation,” says Terry Reintke,<\/strong> co-chair of the Greens, who sends a message to leaders in even clearer terms: \u201cIf we want to repay the Next Generation EU debt with a stable budget level, without cutting successful programmes such as Life, Horizon, and Erasmus \u2013 which we also need for the transition \u2013 we must increase the budget.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Socialists also warn: \u201cFor Parliament to approve the financial framework , we will need a broad pro-European majority that includes the EPP, S&D, Renew, and the Greens<\/strong>,\u201d says the group leader, Iratxe Garcia Perez<\/strong>, adding that \u201cthis vote is a first sign and we will also have to work on the narrative in the Member States so that they understand.\u201d<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2025\/11\/17\/single-fund-overall-resources-common-debt-in-council-only-noes-for-mff-2028-2034\/<\/a><\/p>\n

The real puzzle will therefore lie in the numbers and the alliances, for a dossier that remains divisive \u2014 as shown by the votes of a Chamber that is already split, and increasingly so in the Council.<\/p>\n

The discontent<\/h4>\n

There is certainly agreement among the EPP, S&D, RE, and Greens on this issue, but each has something to say. Among the Socialists, the PD representative, Stefano Bonaccini<\/strong>, considers “the 20 per cent cuts to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)<\/b>, the elimination of rural development funds, and the exclusion of local authorities from the management of resources to be unacceptable.” The Spanish socialist Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar<\/strong> shares this view, convinced that \u201cagricultural and cohesion policies must continue to exist under their own names,\u201d thereby rejecting the single fund concept.<\/p>\n

\n

The Liberals (RE), through their group leader, Valerie Hayer<\/strong>, are unhappy with the approach to EU funding sources outside the budget, and she therefore makes it clear: “We will not give our consent to the budget unless there is credible progress on own resources.<\/strong>“<\/p>\n

\n

Own resources, on the other hand, are one of the reasons why the Conservatives (ECR) are voting against the 2028\u20132024 MFF proposal: \u201cWe oppose the introduction of new own resources and a further centralisation of budget management,\u201d said\u00a0Nicola Procaccini<\/strong> (FdI), co-chair of the group. In his view, there are also \u201cshortcomings\u201d in the overall approach. \u201cOn migration,\u201d he explains, \u201cthe approach is still incomplete, and too much emphasis is placed on policies linked to the Green Deal at a time when the EU should be focusing on competitiveness and economic resilience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0These remarks prompted a reaction from Valentina Palmisano<\/strong> (M5S\/laSinistra), who launched an attack on the government and its majority parties: “Tell us about the Stability Pact which you have signed<\/a>, tell us about the austerity measures and the rearmament programme that you voted for.” In the Council, the Five Star Movement representative continues, “the frugal countries are reorganising themselves<\/a>, and the Italian government remains silent.” Hence, the message for Procaccini: “We need our own resources, starting with a tax on the windfall profits of energy companies.<\/strong>“<\/p>\n

In this debate, the Commissioner responsible for the budget, Piotr Serafin,<\/strong> seeks to “emphasise the concept of timeliness,<\/b>” which means “the urgency of reaching an agreement in 2026.” The Commission\u2019s draft budget for 2028\u20132034 is not set in stone; \u201cwe must also build a degree of flexibility into the financial framework,\u201d while bearing in mind that \u201cthe Commission has proposed a budget that reflects the scale of our common challenges: competitiveness, security, and our global role, while continuing to support cohesion and agriculture.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Negotiating position on the 2028\u20132034 MFF approved: the green light has been given to the request for a 10 per cent increase, but controversy remains. Everyone is waiting to see how the EPP will respond, particularly among the leaders of Member States. The Liberals want own resources<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":494,"featured_media":279007,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25681],"tags":[25755,33140,26238,26755,30441,26708,26990,28539,33394,29243],"class_list":["post-451560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-news-parliament-en","tag-fondo-unico","tag-manfred-weber-en-2","tag-nicola-procaccini-en","tag-risorse-proprie-en","tag-session-plenary-en","tag-ppe-and","tag-stefano-bonaccini-en","tag-ue","tag-valentina-palmisano-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/494"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451560"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":451625,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451560\/revisions\/451625"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}