The Socialists and Democrats are committed to working towards a reform of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) – the budget of the EU for the period 2021-2027. The S&D Group believes it is no longer possible to respond to the emerging needs of our citizens and businesses without changing the way the MFF works. The Group has long been calling for an in-depth revision and – under the leadership of European Parliament co-negotiator and S&D MEP Margarida Marques – will actively strive to ensure that the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) is adequately equipped to address the unprecedented crises we are currently facing, while also incorporating additional flexibility.

Rovana Plumb MEP, vice-president of the S&D Group for budgetary matters, said:

“Only a couple of weeks ago, the European Commission put on the table its proposal for a budget for 2024. It was no surprise to our Group that this proposal was insufficient in responding to peoples’ needs. The scarcity of resources we are facing in our budget for 2024 will repeat every year until 2027 unless we increase the EU’s means to deal with the current challenges and make some considerable changes in the architecture of our multiannual budget.

“The S&Ds will work hard to push for an MFF revision that brings forward important changes such as raising the ceilings where needed, by preserving the heart and financing of the cohesion policy and by ensuring that there is enough flexibility in our budget to deal with emergencies and unexpected events. Increased flexibility in our budget, including via the creation of a permanent crisis instrument, has been a long-standing priority for our Group and we will continue to put this forward in our discussions with the Commission and the Council. We welcome the Commission’s step forward today by adopting this proposal, which we will assess in depth together with today’s proposals for new own resources for the EU budget in order to make a better-resourced MFF a reality. The S&D Group is fully committed to engaging in meaningful discussions with the member states in order to have a revised MFF in force by the first of January 2024.”