National governments have reduced the top up of the EU budget until 2027 from an initial objective of €100 billion to €65 billion.
The review of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), adopted yesterday by the EU, determines EU funding up to the end of 2027.
The ETUC warns that EU funding to support working people through the digital and environmental transitions, to research and to strengthening care systems is facing severe cuts.
Frugal Europe
The European Commission initially tabled a figure of €100bn, supported by the European Parliament. After protracted negotiations with national governments, that figure was cut back.
The tightening in the EU budget comes just as sweeping new economic governance rules are set to force major cuts in public spending at national level.
Furthermore, the figure of €65 billion until 2027 includes €50 billion in pledges previously made by the EU to support Ukraine.
“The mid-term revision of the MFF should have raised ambition to enhance the EU’s cohesion policy, to secure resources to deal with emergencies and unexpected events,” said Tea Jarc, ETUC Confederal Secretary.
“The cuts are set to hit those areas in which people most appreciate EU action. The fight against poverty and social exclusion, public health, action against climate change and support to the economy and creation of new jobs are the highest are areas in which citizens want more EU action, not less. Yet these are the very issues on which EU funding risks being cut.
“The reduction to the proposed financial allocation not only affects the capacity of the EU to protect the most vulnerable in society but also hampers its capacity to successfully face the digital and the environmental transitions, to generate growth, and to protect people’s living conditions.”
