“It seems to be a larger budget,” responded the PS MEP, speaking to the Portuguese press in Brussels a day after the European Commission proposed a long-term European Union (EU) budget until 2034 of two trillion euros, up from the current framework of 1.2 trillion, which includes more national contributions and three new taxes.
“You cannot say it’s a much larger budget when, for example, it includes the interests and payment of the Next Generation EU [Recovery and Resilience Facility, which funds the PRR] and when discussing a price calculation that might not make the budget clearer,” she added.
Carla Tavares also noted that “it needs to be clarified when speaking of current prices versus constant prices.”
“A second issue relates naturally [to the fact that] Parliament argues for greater ambition, more flexibility, more transparency, while also believing it’s impossible to do more with less or the same,” emphasized the European assembly’s co-rapporteur for this matter.
According to the socialist MEP, what is at stake is “a merger of a series of programs, notably in cohesion, the areas associated with the European Social Fund, parts of a very relevant program [related to] agriculture, within large national plans.”
“The European Parliament has always been very clear that this was not the path it believed should be taken,” she warned, stressing that the institution will “exercise its powers” as a budgetary authority, although it is open to the negotiation that now begins.
Carla Tavares reiterated that “the creation of 27 national and regional partnership plans within the new long-term EU budget framework, with disbursements based on targets met, is not the desired path for this whole process.”
For the Portuguese MEP, this proposal “does not serve Portugal,” particularly given the weight of agricultural and cohesion funds in the country, with the latter accounting for 90% of public investment.
So far, agricultural and cohesion funds have accounted for about 70% of the long-term EU budget.
“Not defending the common agricultural policy, not defending cohesion issues, […] calls into question the Union’s values,” stated Carla Tavares in Brussels.
Following several hours of negotiations among EU commissioners, the first proposal package on the next MFF 2028-2034 was presented in Brussels on Wednesday, with a total envelope of two trillion euros in commitments (at current prices), based on national contributions (based on gross national income) of 1.26%.
In addition to these national contributions, the new own resources now proposed by the European Commission include a special tobacco consumption tax, a business resource for Europe, and taxes on electronic waste and e-commerce.
Together, these new own resources and other elements of the own resources package presented today are estimated to generate approximately 58.5 billion euros per year (at current prices).
The current long-term EU budget (2021-2027) stands at 1.21 trillion euros (which includes about 800 billion euros at current prices from the Recovery and Resilience Facility, which funds the PRR), involving national contributions of 1.1%.
