The EU's Long-term Budget Will Not Fundamentally Change Or Increase
At an ongoing two-day summit in Brussels, EU leaders agreed not to reopen an agreement on the Union's seven-year budget (2021-2027) and the recovery plan following the Corona crisis, reached at the cost of difficult compromises during the extraordinary July summit.
Sassoli called for an increase in the budget
The issue of the EU's long-term budget was not part of the negotiations, but its importance was recalled by the President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli.
In his traditional opening speech, he called on leaders to approve the European Parliament's proposal and increase the agreed budget package by another 39 billion euros in July.
This amount should cover the programs that, according to MEPs, the leaders most "cut" in July when looking for a compromise.
At the same time, Sassoli emphasized that the European Parliament did not want to reopen the negotiations concluded in July, and described the increase in the budget as its "technical adjustment".
Blocked negotiations
According to politico.eu, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country currently holds the presidency of the EU Council, is disappointed with the demands of the European Parliament's negotiators.
However, negotiations between the European Parliament and the Council of the EU on the multiannual financial framework are currently blocked, as Sassoli has also pointed out, and there is a need to unblock them.
Without the consent of the European Parliament, the compromise agreement on the seven-year budget does not apply.