Commission under pressure to tweak €2 tn EU budget proposal after Parliament pushback
‘The current draft of the EU budget satisfies no one and must be rewritten,’ said Siegfried Mureșan, EPP vice-chair and Parliament negotiator
The centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) is threatening to reject a key part of the Commission’s 2028-2034 budget proposal, piling pressure on the EU executive to amend the plan.
The Commission’s budget proposal, unveiled in July, foresees a merger of farm and regional subsidies into €865 billion national plans. But this idea has come under heavy fire from regions, farmers, agricultural ministers, and the European Parliament, with MEPs now close to a majority against the reform.
“We expect concrete amendments by November,” said Siegfried Mureșan, vice-chair of the centre-right EPP and one of Parliament’s lead negotiators on the budget. “A rejection can only be avoided if the Commission improves its proposal shortly,” he added, following intense internal discussions in the group.
Mounting opposition
Legally, Parliament cannot block the proposal outright, but it can threaten to reject the final budget once it has been approved by EU countries – a move that would significantly raise the political stakes.
Centre-left S&D leader Iratxe García, whose group is also ready to reject the national plans, joined regional leaders in a protest outside Parliament on Wednesday.
“We are against the national plans and the renationalisation of European policy,” García said.
If both S&D and EPP were to reject the proposal, the Greens and liberal Renew Europe are expected to follow suit — forming a potential blocking majority in Parliament.
EPP divisions
Despite Mureșan’s formal warning, EPP members remain split on tactics, following a tense meeting on Wednesday morning.
Delegations from Poland, Italy, Bulgaria, and Romania favour sending the Commission back to the drawing board, two sources present at the meeting told Euractiv. Others, such as the German delegation, are more cautious, preferring to give the Commission time to offer political guarantees or make changes to the parts of the budget concerning regional and agricultural funds.
“All options are on the table. The current draft of the Commission’s long-term EU budget satisfies no one and must be rewritten,” Mureșan said.
(aw)
