BRUSSELS — Senior Commissioners and the European Parliament’s top brass will meet Wednesday afternoon to try to hash out a deal over disputed parts of the EU’s €1.8 trillion long-term budget.
The meeting follows weeks of increasing tensions between the EU’s executive and legislative branches in Brussels.
Ursula von der Leyen’s Commission is holding discussions with members of the European Parliament after leading political groups warned they might reject part of the legislative proposal put forward by the executive on the multi-year budget, known as the MFF, due to start in 2028.
The Commission has still not put anything on the table, said Siegfried Mureșan, the Parliament’s lead budget negotiator and a Romanian MEP from the center-right European People’s Party, on Wednesday morning ahead of the meeting.
“It’s a very high risk to continue elaborating the budget in a state of conflict, and we think it wouldn’t be wise,” he warned.
The Commission and Parliament have until Nov. 12 to find a compromise, when lawmakers are expected to pass a resolution officially rejecting the controversial section of the MFF.
At the center of the dispute are planned changes to regional cohesion and agricultural payments, with the Parliament and regional leaders being cut out of decision-making regarding budget allocation.
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EPP President Manfred Weber, who is von der Leyen’s party colleague, told POLITICO his group was objecting to ensure the budget “serves the needs of Europeans” and the threat to reject it outright was needed “to set the tone at an early stage so that our key demands are heard in constructive talks with the Commission.”
Weber said the Commission would have to find a solution to address three main priorities: “One, a strong role for our regions. Two, a Common Agricultural Policy that shows we have listened to our farmers. Three, the safeguards of the European Parliament’s role and powers.”
“For me, it is clear that the Commission and Parliament must stand united when it comes to something as fundamental as the EU budget,” Weber said, striking a conciliatory tone. “Today, I am confident that we will find a solution.”
Center-left Socialists and Democrats chief Iratxe García warned the Commission of the consequences of ignoring Parliament’s demands.
“Together with the other pro-European groups, we are ready to reject the national plans in the next MFF,” she warned before the meeting. Renewed skilling of workers, protecting people from economic shocks and bringing down house prices all need to be addressed to win her party’s support, she said.
Commission in tight spot
Despite the lack of a concrete offer to lawmakers, the Commission is well aware of the Parliament’s demands and understands the sense of urgency, Mureșan said.
“We feel a proposal by their side which satisfies the Parliament is needed over the course of the next days,” he said, adding that it’s a “matter of political will” by the executive to correct its proposals.
“We have been listening, and we are aware that there are three areas of concern for the Parliament and on these, we will constructively engage with them,” a Commission official told POLITICO.
The Polish commissioner in charge of budget, Piotr Serafin, will have to square Parliament’s demands with pressure from angry member countries — some of which say they will be furious if the Commission substantially alters the budget proposal.
The “German government … will only agree to a fundamentally modernized financial framework,” a German official said.
Eastern and Southern European countries that are critical towards the Commission’s proposal generally support Parliament’s arguments, according to multiple officials.
One diplomat — who, like others, was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the sensitive discussions — said colleagues have been increasingly complaining that MEPs are “blocking everything” and “risking leaving our countries without a clear plan for investment.”
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