The Socialists and Democrats led a majority for progressive changes to the European Commission’s proposal on a revision of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) - the EU’s pluriannual budget 2021-2027. The vote took place today in the European Parliament’s committee on budgets. According to the S&D Group, these changes come at a time when it is clear that the current MFF 2021-2027 was adopted under a completely different context - before the Covid-19 pandemic, the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and all the other challenges to our Union that followed. Margarida Marques - a Portuguese member of our group - is the European Parliament’s co-author on the interim report on the MFF. She actively strove to ensure the Union’s pluriannual budget is adequately equipped to address the unprecedented crises we are currently facing, while also incorporating additional flexibility and demanding the European Commission to propose a permanent crises instrument.
Margarida Marques, S&D MEP and European Parliament co-negotiator on the revision of the MFF, said:
“We need a quick revision of the Multiannual Financial Framework. The S&D Group is fully committed to engaging in meaningful discussions with the Spanish presidency of the Council of the EU in order to have a revised MFF in force by the 1st of January 2024.
“The Commission’s proposal does not address all the current needs and funding gaps. However, it is a step in the right direction and all the components of the Commission’s proposal are important. This is why our group is in favour of more assistance to Ukraine and we asked for increased financial means in order to strengthen the EU’s strategic autonomy, implement the Migration Pact and reply to the challenging geopolitical situation in a world where the EU wants to be the leader in a socially just green and digital transition. Our group is happy we ensured that the MFF will have the adequate flexibility necessary to respond to emerging needs. We have to answer to humanitarian crises and help member states and citizens cope with the consequences of natural disasters. The fires and floods of this summer throughout Europe are just more proof of how urgently we have to act. We also have to tackle the social and economic impact of the war in Ukraine and need to pay the interests on the debt taken for the economic recovery package NextGenerationEU.
“All of this would be impossible without a revision of the EU pluriannual budget 2021-2027. We ask member states to step up now and meet the expectations of our citizens and businesses. Following the adoption of the report in the committee on budgets today, I am optimistic that there will be a vote in plenary during the October I session in Strasbourg (3-5 October 2023).”
