EU unveils blueprint for boosted €2tril budget
BRUSSELS : The EU executive proposed today a long-term budget boosted to €2 trillion as Europe confronts complex challenges from overseas competition to Russian aggression at its borders.
EU budget commissioner Piotr Serafin unveiled a funding plan for 2028-2034 that aims to foster the bloc's economic competitiveness, support Ukraine and satisfy traditional beneficiaries of European money, such as farmers.
'The next MFF will be the most ambitious ever proposed. It is more strategic, more flexible, more transparent,' EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said, using the bloc's acronym for the budget.
The proposal is to kickstart two years of tense negotiations with the EU's 27 member states and lawmakers in Brussels.
Serafin said that under the commission's plans, €300 billion (US$347 billion) will be ringfenced to support farmers, who have been worried about potential cuts to their slice of the pie.
A competitiveness fund bringing together EU investment efforts in clean tech, digital, biotech, defence, space and food will amount to €451 billion, he said at the European Parliament.
The European Commission also proposed establishing a fund of up to €100 billion (US$115 billion) to support war-torn Ukraine.
'This is a long-term commitment to Ukraine's recovery and reconstruction,' Serafin said.
And as Europe pushes to re-arm, the amounts dedicated to defence and space will increase five-fold to €131 billion.
Similarly, the sums dedicated to military mobility under a separate pot dedicated to investment in infrastructure will go up 10-fold, he said.
The previous 2021-2027 budget was worth around €1.2 trillion.
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