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They propose a significant increase in this budget, from €1.211 trillion in the current period to €2 trillion. €865 billion is to be allocated to new national and regional partnership plans; five times more money is proposed for defense and security.
The next MFF is a"budget for a new era" and the most ambitious ever proposed, said von der Leyen at the press conference. The EU Commission intends to propose a more flexible, smart, and ambitious budget, said Serafin in his presentation to the EU Parliament. There will be new spending categories and changes to the budget structure. The budget will be strategically oriented with room for maneuver. There will be three headings – Europe's social model and quality of life, competitiveness, prosperity and security, and global Europe – plus the heading of administration.
Von der Leyen emphasized the advantages of the new 27 national plans, which had already been controversial in advance. She praised them as a"simple, tailor-made system" that would bring European priorities under one roof. The overall budget is to be simplified: the current 52 programs are to be consolidated into 16. This should reduce administration.
Direct payments for farmers still planned
According to the plans, €300 billion will be earmarked for agriculture, with €218 billion earmarked for less developed regions. The majority of agricultural subsidies will continue to go to farmers as direct payments. Direct payments are a central component of the CAP and an important source of income for farmers. They are administered jointly by the Commission and the Member States. For Austria, agricultural payments from Brussels are very significant: they account for around half of all funds received, half of which are earmarked for rural development.
The Competitiveness Fund (CEF) contains €410 billion. According to von der Leyen, the funding for the Horizon Europe research program will be doubled, and five times more will be invested in digital technology. Within the CEF, there will be a fivefold increase to €131 billion for defense. Funding for military mobility will also be significantly increased.
Three times more money for migration and border protection
€200 billion is to be allocated to"Global Europe," which includes development aid and support for neighboring countries. The EU also intends to spend significantly more on migration and securing its external borders: a tripling to €34 billion is proposed. The Disaster Relief Fund is also to receive three times more funding. €100 billion will be allocated – outside the MFF – for Ukraine. One-third of the funds will support the EU's biodiversity and climate goals, according to von der Leyen.
The EU intends to invest more in its response capacity. However, the contributions from member states will remain constant, the German emphasized. Starting in 2028, the debts from the"NextGenerationEU" coronavirus recovery fund will also have to be repaid. This time, the challenge is therefore particularly great, Serafin said. Therefore, the Commission intends to propose five additional sources of revenue (own resources). Revenues from tobacco, corporate taxes, emissions trading, and electronic waste are planned. This is expected to generate revenue of around €58 billion per year for Brussels' coffers.
The EU Parliament's co-rapporteurs criticized the proposals in a joint statement on Wednesday afternoon, saying that this draft budget does not leave sufficient resources for key priorities such as competitiveness, cohesion, agriculture, defense, climate adaptation, and investments for a sustainable economy. Parliament had already expressed concerns about the proposed structure and warned that the planned consolidation of programs into so-called"megafunds" risked undermining proven policies.
