After loudly demanding more oversight of the EU’s €300bn Global Gateway scheme, national ministers are now skipping its own board meetings. “It’s a major part of the budget, but it’s not really understood,” said the Irish liberal MEP Barry Andrews, who chairs the parliament’s development committee.
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.
