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The European Parliament has firmly opposed the European Commission’s proposal for a single fund instrument that could jeopardize the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Instead, the EP calls for a strengthened agricultural budget.
Parliament’s vision and demands for the EU’s 2028-2034 budget are set out in a resolution adopted by MEPs on Wednesday. MEPs call for a significantly more ambitious multiannual financial framework (MFF) that can deliver on EU citizens’ rising expectations amid global instability. The current spending ceiling of 1% of the EU-27’s gross national income is not enough to address the growing number of crises and challenges, MEPs say.
Parliament rejects the Commission’s idea of replicating the Recovery and Resilience Facility’s "one national plan per Member State" model. Instead, MEPs call for a structure that ensures transparency and parliamentary accountability, and involves regional and local authorities and all relevant actors. The resolution also reaffirms cohesion policy’s role in deepening the single market, reducing inequality, and combating poverty.
Two key amendments were adopted, emphasizing the preservation of the CAP’s separate budget line in the next MFF and calling for it to be increased. This includes indexing the agricultural budget to inflation and identifying additional dedicated funding sources to support the many transitions which the EU is demanding of the agricultural sector. That represents a common-sense approach that would bring consistency between the Commission’s ambitions and its funds.
MEPs consider the proposed “competitiveness fund” – which would merge several existing programmes – to be inadequate. Instead, they call for a new, targeted fund designed to leverage private and public investments through EU-backed de-risking mechanisms. Increased defence spending is necessary, they say, but this must not undermine social and environmental spending or long-standing policies.
The next long-term budget must cut unnecessary red tape for beneficiaries, but must not give the Commission more leeway without Parliament’s democratic scrutiny. A simpler budget must be a more transparent budget, MEPs say.
Flexibility in spending is also key – crisis-response capacities must be built into the budget for each policy area, with humanitarian aid ring-fenced.
MEPs insist that the repayment of NextGenerationEU borrowing costs must not endanger funding for key EU priorities.
Parliament’s priorities are designed to feed into the Commission’s proposal on the EU’s next long‑term budget, due to be published in July 2025.
May 7, 2025/ European Parliament and Copa-Coeca/ European Union.
https://www.europarl.europa.eu
https://copa-cogeca.eu/
