{"id":454740,"date":"2026-05-26T09:21:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T07:21:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/05\/26\/bilancio-pluriennale-16-paesi-tra-cui-litalia-contro-la-commissione-piu-soldi-per-coesione-e-agricoltura\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T11:51:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T09:51:14","slug":"multiannual-budget-16-countries-including-italy-oppose-the-commission-and-call-for-more-funding-for-cohesion-and-agriculture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/05\/26\/multiannual-budget-16-countries-including-italy-oppose-the-commission-and-call-for-more-funding-for-cohesion-and-agriculture\/","title":{"rendered":"Multiannual budget: 16 countries (including Italy) oppose the Commission and call for more funding for cohesion and agriculture"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 The European Union\u2019s Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), as proposed<\/strong><\/a>, is not acceptable. It is no secret that EU Member States are unhappy with the framework for the next seven-year budget (MFF 2028\u20132034), but now the opposition is gathering momentum and becoming more united. Sixteen out of 27 Member States<\/strong> (Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Hungary) closed ranks with a joint declaration<\/a><\/strong> that is effectively a motion of no confidence in the European Commission. These are the so-called “friends of cohesion,” who will not tolerate funding cuts for policies supporting regional development and agriculture. <\/p>\n

“In the Commission\u2019s proposal, cohesion policy and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) are the only policies facing
\nreductions in real terms, despite the overall increase in the size of the new MFF”, the sixteen countries complain. They call for “an increase in the Member States allocations”<\/strong> under the two programmes, given that cohesion and the CAP “are the most visible EU policies for the EU citizens.” 
\nA point that Tommaso Foti, Minister <\/b>for European Affairs, the NRRP and Cohesion Policies, stressed. \u201cThe European Union\u2019s next Multiannual Financial Framework must ensure adequate resources for the Treaty\u2011based policies, starting with cohesion policy and the Common Agricultural Policy, which are essential tools for Europe\u2019s growth, convergence, and food security.\u201d In this context, \u201cit is unacceptable that cohesion, the CAP, and fisheries should be the only policies to see a real reduction in resources despite the overall increase in the EU budget,\u201d and it is necessary \u201cto preserve the principle of shared management and the role of Member States in programming EU funds, avoiding automatisms that limit territorial specificities.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/02\/24\/eu-court-of-auditors-criticizes-the-2028-2034-budget-risks-to-sound-financial-management\/<\/a><\/p>\n

The criticism regarding Structural Fund resources is effectively an act of censure against Raffaele Fitto, the executive vice\u2011president responsible for Cohesion Policy, who, following Italy\u2019s signing of the letter, finds himself \u201ccast aside\u201d by his own country and by the government that appointed him. Fitto is being criticised for the reform of cohesion policy, which not everyone supports: \u201cCohesion Policy should not be turned into a systematic crisis tool<\/strong>, replacing other EU instruments designed for this purpose.\u201d In this regard, the 16 countries state that \u201cthe proposed 10% crisis reserve should be reduced,\u201d and that the reprogramming of measures currently underway in the plan \u201cshould remain a voluntary option<\/strong>\u201d for Member States.<\/p>\n

But the letter also contains other points of contention: the “friends of cohesion” are attacking the so-called “frugal” Member States, which want to contribute as few resources as possible, while calling to maintain rebates – the refund for the national contribution to the EU budget<\/a> – beyond 2027. These are Austria, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden, with whom tensions had already surfaced among leaders<\/a> at the European Council summit \u2014 and now the confrontation resumes. “The abolition of rebates linked to the GNI (gross national income, ed.) based on own resources  is a must,<\/strong>” according to the group of 16 countries that signed the joint declaration. In their view, “there is no political or
\neconomic rationale for re-introducing them <\/strong>on the revenue side of the EU budget.<\/strong>“<\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n

The European Commission has, however, secured the agreement of the 16 countries to work on the proposal for own resources \u2013 revenue for the EU budget other than national contributions \u2013 in exchange for more funding for cohesion and agriculture, as well as for new mechanisms similar to those used to respond to the post-pandemic crisis. Cohesion supporters argue that “a more gradual repayment scheme of Next Generation EU and new joint borrowing for loan
\nsupport<\/strong> (such as Catalyst Europe<\/a>) should be considered <\/strong>as options to finance investments and
\nEuropean public goods essential for long-term strategic autonomy.“<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The so-called “Friends of Cohesion” issued a joint statement on the proposed MFF for 2028\u20132034, which is a slap to Fitto. They signal openness on own resources, in exchange for changes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":494,"featured_media":454730,"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":[29704,26025,29807,26958,29919,30441,33394],"class_list":["post-454740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-budget-community-en","tag-risorse-proprie-en","tag-ue"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454740","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=454740"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":454741,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454740\/revisions\/454741"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}