The European Parliament’s budget committee has rejected the Council’s proposal to cut €1.52 billion from key EU programs in the 2025 budget. MEPs are calling for increases to essential programs like Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ instead. The committee’s position, led by MEP Victor Negrescu, passed by 29 votes with only eight against.
The proposed cuts by the Council were deemed unacceptable by MEPs, who argued that reducing funding for programs such as Frontex, the International Security Fund, and Erasmus+ would be detrimental. The largest cuts were targeted at Horizon Europe (€400m), Erasmus+ (€294m), and the Connecting Europe Facility Digital (€110m).
The Parliament is advocating for a people-centered 2025 EU budget with adequate funding for youth, farmers, SMEs, education, health, research, infrastructure, security, and humanitarian aid. The budget committee has backed amendments to restore cuts proposed by the Council and increase funding for programs like Erasmus+, humanitarian aid, and disaster relief.
The next steps involve the Parliament ratifying its final position in a late October plenary session, followed by trilogue negotiations with the Council and the Commission in November. The goal is to reach a final agreement by a November 18 deadline.
The 2025 budget marks the first to be affected by the costs of repaying debts from the NextGenerationEU recovery plan. Despite some initial cuts in the Commission’s draft budget, the Parliament finds the Council’s proposal unacceptable and is pushing for increased funding for vital EU programs.
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