Frugal EU states seeking budget cuts are shooting their own regions in the footDespite joining a frugal ultimatum for EU budget cuts, the Dutch get roughly as much growth from EU investment as they pay in, while narrowing the gap between wealthier and poorer regions.
As the EU seeks budget cuts to break a stalemate in member states’ talks, women’s rights groups are on the chopping bloc, prompting advocates’ concern that important causes are fading from the common agenda.
The EU is negotiating its next long-term budget as countries discuss possible new taxes directly to the EU budget or, on the contrary, funding cuts.
To make best use of the limited funds the EU has available, Europe does not need a commission that measures its success by the amount of money it has been able to spend. It needs a Commission that is willing and able to prioritise and focus EU intervention where it does the most good and is then willing to stand up and defend those priorities against member states’ national interests.
The EU’s ‘Global Europe’ development budget is looking vulnerable as the ‘frugal’ countries and other blocs push for cuts to the 2028-34 EU budget.
The European Commission says that new public procurement rules would allow more flexibility in choosing the best offer, stopping the “race to the bottom” for the lowest bid.
Six European airlines received €10.9bn in free emissions allowances under the EU’s emissions trading scheme, according to new research, as aviation is set to be one of the main battlegrounds in a proposed reform to the system.
Two of parliament’s lead negotiators told EUobserver that they are not impressed by calls from some member states to ‘do more while calling for a weaker budget’
The Irish EU-presidency has prepared a document hoping to “aid consideration” and smooth over differences that have gridlocked negotiations since June.
As the EU pushes to simplify its labyrinth of departments as well as its next budget, the directorate for urban and regional development is set to face severe restructuring – possibly jeopardising Brussels’ ties to local governments across the bloc.
Palantir’s software is now used by French intelligence, German police, the Dutch defence bodies and the Spanish military. They’ve just opened an office in Brussels – yet their global effective tax rate was just 1.4 percent.
Under the current EU budget, social spending through ESF+ amounts to nearly €96bn. According to internal calculations made by European Parliament services, total social spending could fall under the next MFF to between €63bn and €87bn.
Budget negotiations for the EU’s 2028-2034 framework hope to win over member states with increased agency on border and security funding – which could leave room for human rights abuses to continue far from Brussels’ scrutiny
Extending the EU’s recovery and resilience funds (RRF) would add flexibility to the 2028–2034 EU budget negotiations, raise the chances of agreement before year’s end, and preserve EU leverage over reforms in Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania at a sensitive moment.
EU budget commissioner Piotr Serafin warned “the alternative to European spending is more national spending” – adding that defence, energy security and research “will have to be financed one way or another.”
EU Council president António Costa has set an end-of-year deadline for the next budget – but negotiators say there is only a “50-50 chance” of success.
EU leaders will hold their first formal discussion on Friday, after the Cypriot presidency tabled the first so-called “negobox”, a draft document setting out possible spending compromises.
The 27 EU heads of state or government will gather in Brussels on Thursday to discuss the future budget of the European Union. So what are the possible outcomes for the EU’s next long-term budget?
There are seven months left for European countries to reach an agreement on the EU budget. But negotiations are moving very slowly. So what is at stake for Europeans?
Because transparency rules are weak, it remains difficult to tell what €577bn in Covid-spending has achieved and who ultimately received it.