Friday, July 18, 2025 – 0:21
European flags are pictured in front of the European Commission Building, the Berlaymond, in Brussels Wednesday, 7 June 2006. The European Union is awarded the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize for its historic role in uniting the continent, it was announced in Oslo, Norway, 12 October 2012. EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET
Recently, the European Commission proposed a budget of 2,000 billion euros for the European Union for the period 2028-2034 on Wednesday, putting a renewed emphasis on economic competitiveness and defense, reports Albinfo.ch.
“It is a budget that meets the ambition of Europe, which faces its challenges and strengthens our autonomy,” said the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, before journalists in Brussels.
“The budget is greater. It is smarter and more targeted. It produces results for our citizens and businesses, for our partners and for our future,” she added.
The Commission said that this proposal represents 1.26 % of the European Union’s gross national product at 27 members, an indicator of the size of the economy, against 1.13 % in the current seven -year budget.
The new budget must be approved by all the Member States and signed by the European Parliament.
The proposal includes 451 billion euros for the new European competitiveness fund, focused on strengthening the defense industry, promoting innovation and support for industry transition to clean energy throughout the block.
It also provides 131 billion euros specifically for defense and space, a multiplication by five compared to the current level, according to the Commission.
In addition, 302 billion euros are intended to support farmers and at least 218 billion euros for the least developed regions in Europe, as well as 200 billion euros for global programs.
The majority of funds come from governments of EU member states.
However, the Commission has proposed several ways to directly increase budget resources, including a new tax on companies with an annual net turnover of more than 100 million euros in an EU country.
Several EU and parliamentarians immediately criticized this proposal.
“The EU is important for our prosperity, but the proposed budget is too high,” said Dutch finance minister Eelco Heinen.
The European Parliament, for its part, considered that the commission’s proposal was not ambitious enough.
“We cannot do more with less. New priorities require new adequate resources, not cuts in existing priorities,” said Siegfried Mureșan, MEP and negotiating the next EU budget.
Budgetary debates are among the most complex in EU policy, as they highlight the political and economic divisions between the Member States.
Discussions in the coming months should highlight political tensions between efforts to increase the financing of new priorities and the preservation of traditional investments in agriculture and regional development.