Speaking on the European Parliament’s presentation of its guidelines for next year’s budget, S&D MEP Victor Negrescu called on the European Commission and the Council to support a more robust European budget that could finance the new priorities identified at EU level, a positive revision of the MFF, including additional funds to respond to citizens needs and tackling the impact of inflation, with no cuts on cohesion policy or existing programmes.

“Everyone must be aware that what we are actually doing is setting a level of ambition and seeking to provide answers to the challenges ahead. We call on the Commission and the Council to show courage and rise to the occasion with a consolidated budget that can finance the new priorities and ensure the wellbeing of our citizens and our economy. We make it clear that we need a positive revision of the Multiannual Financial Framework with additional resources to respond to the needs of citizens, to continue our support to Ukraine and frontline countries and to tackle the impact of inflation”, said the Social Democrat MEP in the plenary of the European Parliament.

“The S&D group calls for a responsible budget that will ensure an effective response to the global geopolitical challenges, providing stability in these extremely turbulent times and building the foundation for a prosperous and secure Europe for future generations”, he added.

Victor Negrescu also stressed that he is seeking a budget that will ensure adequate resources for member states to develop new European opportunities, support agriculture and farmers, SMEs, infrastructure development and address the effects of the war in Ukraine.

“We have targeted these elements and asked for the European budget for next year to include concrete references to the need to extend the Schengen area to include Romania, to support states in the vicinity of the conflict zone, including the Republic of Moldova, for which we have asked for urgent pre-accession funds, to finance the European Strategy for the Danube Region or infrastructure in the peripheral areas of Europe, such as Moldova”, said the Romanian representative in the European Parliament.

“Next year’s European budget must reflect what we can do better together at European level”, he noted.