“We are ready to start discussions with the Council immediately and we are willing to reach an agreement for a well-functioning budget for the remaining four years of the current MFF,” stated Jan Olbrycht MEP, Co-Rapporteur on the MFF mid-term revision.

The MFF (Multiannual Financial Framework) mid-term revision is built around EPP Group proposals: it should secure the appropriate funds to promote growth, jobs and competitiveness, address youth unemployment and the migration and refugee crisis, ensure internal security in the EU and fight terrorism. It should also prevent a future payment crisis in the EU Budget. It must improve the flexibility of the EU Budget and simplify the financial rules for beneficiaries. This revision should represent also an excellent opportunity to secure the appropriate funding for newly-proposed programmes like the '18th birthday interrail pass for Europe’, as the mobility of young people is essential in increasing a sense of European identity.

“This Commission proposal is a good starting point for beginning negotiations with the Council and this review of the MFF is urgently needed. Evidence of this is the poor performance of European funds,” explained José Manuel Fernandes MEP, the EPP Group's spokesperson in the Budgets Committee, "as regions and local authorities, young people and the economy wait for the funds they need that end up never reaching their Member States."

“We are reviewing the economy, but also the credibility of the European Union,” he warned.