{"id":456957,"date":"2026-06-16T17:00:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T15:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/06\/16\/bilancio-pluriennale-ue-da-consiglio-e-parlamento-critiche-alla-proposta-della-presidenza-cipriota\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T18:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T16:00:09","slug":"eu-multiannual-budget-council-and-parliament-criticise-the-cypriot-presidencys-proposal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/06\/16\/eu-multiannual-budget-council-and-parliament-criticise-the-cypriot-presidencys-proposal\/","title":{"rendered":"EU multiannual budget: Council and Parliament criticise the Cypriot Presidency\u2019s proposal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels – Multiannual budget: still a “no”<\/strong>. The European Commission\u2019s original proposal<\/a> for the seven-year budget (MFF 2028\u20132034) had not generated much enthusiasm. On the contrary, it had been met with scepticism and discontent, but the proposal from the Cypriot Presidency of the Council of the EU, which has reduced the total by around 33 <\/a>billion<\/a>, <\/a>is<\/span> fuelling fresh unease, particularly within the Council, with the Meloni government criticising the amendments made by the rotating presidency. <\/p>\n

“For Italy, the structure of the \u2018negotiation box\u2019 raises serious concerns<\/strong>,” said the Minister for European Affairs, the NRRP and Cohesion Policies, Tommaso Foti,<\/strong> at the meeting of the General Affairs Council<\/a>, tasked with preparing this week\u2019s summit of EU Heads of State and Government (18 and 19 June), where the issue will certainly be the subject of discussions amongst the leaders. \u201cWe are the Union\u2019s third-largest net contributor, and we are seeing a reduction in our allocations<\/strong>, even at current prices,\u201d laments Foti, who considers that \u201ctraditional policies<\/strong>\u201d such as Cohesion Policy and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) \u201care not sufficiently safeguarded<\/strong>.\u201d He also criticised those countries that have called for the retention of rebates for their contributions to the multiannual budget: \u201cThe modernisation of the budget proposal clashes with the retention of rebates,\u201d that is, the refunds, based on agreements with Brussels, of part of the funds paid by the Member State into the EU budget.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/05\/06\/eu-parliament-study-2028-2034-budget-insufficient-for-ukraines-reconstruction\/ <\/p>\n

From Strasbourg, where the European Parliament\u2019s plenary session is currently taking place, Manfred Weber,<\/strong> president of the European People\u2019s Party (EPP) and group leader in the European Parliament, has also joined the debate: \u201cWe must put an end to and move beyond the \u2018net contributor\u2019 mentality in Europe<\/strong>,\u201d that is, the idea that some countries receive fewer resources than they have contributed to ensure the EU\u2019s functioning. In this shift in perspective, he insists, \u201cGermany, Austria, and the Netherlands must recognise that while spending more money in Poland and Greece to protect our borders may seem like a bad deal, it is beneficial for protecting our borders.\u201d In other words: enough with the calls for cuts. Weber\u2019s words are a call to order for the so-called “frugal” countries (i.e. those intent on containing spending), but they also serve as a reminder to Italy, given that Foti mentions the country\u2019s status as the third-largest net contributor. <\/p>\n

“Weakening the budget weakens the European Union<\/strong>,” thunders Sigfried Muresan<\/strong> (EPP), co-rapporteur on the dossier for the European Parliament. The EPP\u2019s vice-president points the finger first and foremost at the Cypriot Presidency: \u201cUnfortunately, the rotating Council presidency is proposing further cuts to the already low level of resources.\u201d He then criticises all the Member States\u2019 governments. \u201cIt is not credible for the Council to claim that there are new priorities and then reduce the allocations<\/strong>.\u201d He then points out\u2014in what sounds more like a warning than a reminder\u2014that \u201cthere is no budget without Parliament\u2019s approval\u201d, and Parliament intends to stand its ground. <\/p>\n

“We reject this proposal for a 2 per cent cut<\/strong>” to the multiannual budget proposal, makes clear Carla Tavares<\/strong> (S&D), co-rapporteur for the text, which explicitly calls on Member States to reach an agreement on own resources. \u201cWe know that governments are facing budgetary constraints and cannot contribute more, but we see no signs of this in the Cypriot Presidency\u2019s proposal.\u201d In light of all this, she insists, \u201cit is difficult to have a strong new multiannual budget with cuts and without own resources,\u201d which is why \u201cwe are strongly opposed\u201d to the proposal on the table. \u201cFor us, reaching an agreement by the end of the year remains a priority,\u201d Tavares assures, but corrective measures are needed. <\/p>\n

But there are those who, on the other hand, want to make even deeper cuts<\/strong>. \u201cA reduction of less than 2 per cent on a budget of nearly 2,000 billion euros is merely a drop in the ocean,\u201d thundered the Austrian Minister for European Affairs<\/strong>, Claudia Bauer<\/strong>, from Luxembourg on the sidelines of the General Affairs Council, and argued that \u201creal and substantial cuts\u201d are needed rather than mere \u201ccosmetic adjustments.\u201d The Swedish minister, Jessica Rosencrantz<\/strong>, shares this view<\/strong>, arguing that \u201cthe volume must be reduced substantially\u201d because the cut proposed by the Cypriot presidency is \u201cbarely less than 2 per cent\u201d and, moreover, targets \u201cthe wrong areas,\u201d particularly those linked to \u201ccompetitiveness\u201d and \u201csecurity\u201d. According to the Swedish minister, \u201cwe need new priorities, not deeper pockets.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The European Parliament is not happy with the cuts, having instead called for an increase. Foti: \u201cSignificant areas of concern.\u201d Weber and the EPP against the “frugal” states: \u201cWe need to move away from the usual way of thinking\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":494,"featured_media":456916,"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":[29807,26180,26025,26656,30299,33394],"class_list":["post-456957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-budget-pluriennial-en","tag-tommaso-foti-en","tag-ue"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456957","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=456957"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":456958,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456957\/revisions\/456958"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}