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.
The European Parliament has proposed a €2 trillion budget for 2028-2034 that includes funding for civil society – which have come under sustained attacked over the past two years.
Guaranteeing persons with disabilities to have support in society, good education, a job and access to all areas, versus just supporting actions that segregate and make us invisible. That is what is at stake in the negotiations for the next EU budget, and we are not off to a good start.
