Long-term budget: no agreement without new own resources

The EPP Group wants the next long-term EU Budget to be at 1.3 percent of the EU's economic performance and calls for new 'own resources', which are new direct revenues for the EU Budget which do not come from EU Member States’ budgets.

This position of the EPP Group was adopted today by the European Parliament in a Resolution on the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021-2027 and the EU’s own resources.

"There will be no agreement on the next MFF without new EU own resources", said Jan Olbrycht MEP and José Manuel Fernandes MEP, who negotiate the long-term EU Budget on behalf of the Parliament.

“Universities and enterprises are waiting for a decision concerning the budget. The Parliament is ready to negotiate with the governments. We approved this Resolution, where we confirm our position. Now, we want the governments of the Member States to take a decision”, stated Olbrycht.

“We accept the new priorities, like defence. We absolutely want to have more money for the research programme Horizon and the exchange programme Erasmus, but we want to keep Cohesion Funds and the agriculture budget as they are. This means that Parliament holds its position, and also as regards the amount of money in the budget. This is our Resolution, we are not changing it”, pointed out Olbrycht.

“The EPP Group stands for new own resources to finance new priorities and to finance new policies such as the fight against climate change. We want a budget that matches the ambitions of our citizens and the challenges that the EU is facing”, stated Fernandes.

“With new own resources, we are able to reduce the national contributions from the Member States and simultaneously provide our citizens with the necessary funding to promote quality of life, employment and sustainable development in the European Union”, Fernandes concluded.

The European Council will discuss the long-term budget during its summit on 17-18 October.