Ms von der Leyen will withdraw her proposal for a multi-year EU financial framework. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has been forced to bow to her proposal for a 1.8 trillion euro European budget for 2028-2034 (known by the acronym MMF) after an uprising in the European Parliament. The party’s conservative MPs and other factions supporting his tenure, including the Socialists, Renew Liberals and the Greens, have announced they will veto the budget if there are no fundamental changes to it.
This Sunday, von der Leyen sent a letter on behalf of the EU’s 27 member states to European Parliament President Roberta Mezzola and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, setting out a series of changes to the issues that had sparked complaints from parliamentarians.
Ms von der Leyen’s original budget proposal would have combined regional and agricultural budgets into a single fund, allowed national governments to decide how to spend the money, and removed the European Parliament from decision-making in the implementation of the EU’s accounts. MEPs warned that this approach would waste the European budget. Indeed, Manfred Weber, leader of the European People’s Party (EPP) group in the European Parliament, is one of the leaders of the revolt, highlighting the conflict with co-religionists in the European Commission.
In her letter, von der Leyen proposed a series of changes to help the situation. On the other hand, giving regional leaders a seat in budget planning meetings between national governments and European Commission officials would give them more power to decide how funds are spent. There would also be some guarantee that governments would reduce the risk of cutting payments to the most developed regions, on top of the 218,000 already budgeted for the poorest regions.
In addition, a “rural target” was approved that would force the central government to spend 10% of its funds on agriculture, which would be in addition to the 300 billion direct loans already included in the agricultural budget. Finally, it provides an “administrative mechanism” to give Congress more decision-making power over MMF funding and spending priorities.
European Parliament President Roberta Mezzola said her talks with Ms von der Leyen were “constructive” and the “proposals are a good step forward”, but she also expressed “concerns” about the Commission’s proposals related to the role of local authorities, the Common Agricultural Policy and the role of parliaments.
After the meeting with Mezzola and Frederiksen, the European Commission President wrote on social networks:
But it remains to be seen what will happen on Wednesday, when the European budget will be voted on by the regional chambers. Above all, neither EPP nor other left-wing MPs have been clear about von der Leyen’s reaction. “The ball is in the court of the European Commission,” warned EPP Group Vice-President Siegfried Muresan, minutes before the end of his meeting with his European Parliament counterpart.
Meanwhile, his withdrawal is expected to further heighten tensions between the European Commission president and the leaders of the 27 countries. “This is a way to win internal battles” in the European Parliament and Council, one EU diplomat said, adding that these changes could cause problems for some countries if there is a new budget.
“I think it is reasonable and fair for Parliament to express political concerns about a multi-year financial framework that will be negotiated between the Member States of the Council and ultimately agreed at national and European Council level. Once this agreement is reached, the European Parliament will have to agree. That is the procedure laid out in the Treaty,” said another European diplomat, explaining the strong position the European Parliament had adopted to reach an agreement, but that he did not see any problem with the proposal being approved. Agreed.
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