EU Parliament leaders criticize proposal for bloc's multiannual budget

BRUSSELS - The leaders of the main political groups in the European Parliament have told European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a joint letter that they partly reject her proposal for the European Union's next long-term budget for the years 2028-2034.

In the letter sent on Thursday, the senior EU lawmakers express regret that the commission's proposal presented in July did not take into account the parliament's position on preserving the role of regional policy and the parliament's say in spending decisions.

"The European Parliament cannot accept this as a basis for starting negotiations," said the letter, signed by the leaders of the Conservatives, Social Democrats, Liberals, Greens and other senior legislators working on the file.

On July 23, the European Commission released its proposal for the bloc's long-term budget, with expenditure projected at almost EUR 2 trillion. The proposal is to be debated and amended by EU member states, before the European Parliament has to approve it.

The commission aims to reform the trillion-euro budget by focusing more on expenses related to defense and competitiveness, adding new sources of revenue and changing funding criteria.

The signatories of the letter criticize the fact that instead of dividing the money into several separate funds, each EU country would come up with individual spending plans in the next budget period. This could lead to large sums of money being not transparently allocated, prompting imbalances, the letter said.