Victor Negrescu, the European Parliament’s chief negotiator for the EU budget for 2025, has begun talks with representatives of the European Commission and the Council of the European Union on this dossier.

He gave assurances that he will strongly support ”the need for a budget centred on citizens’ needs around three key principles”:

• financing programmes that improve people’s standard of living and develop the social component that does not leave anyone behind;
• ensuring that EU funds go where they are needed, through better implementation, making rules more flexible and simpler, fighting corruption and prioritising funding and new funding targets;
• protecting the European way of life, by increasing investment in areas of safety and security, from common EU defence to societal resilience based on components such as fighting drug trafficking or investing in education and health.

”European leaders need to understand that citizens’ expectations of the European Union are high and justified”, Negrescu said.

He therefore explained to representatives of EU institutions, including the European Commissioner for Budgets present at the negotiations, that ”we need to switch from theory to practice, from programmes on paper to action on the ground so that people feel the benefits of EU membership”.

In mid-March, the European Parliament approved the budget guidelines for next year proposed and supported by Victor Negrescu, the institution’s chief negotiator for the EU budget.

The guidelines negotiated by the MEP were adopted with 380 votes in favour.

The European Commission is now expected to take the next step, as the Council of the European Union has already set its guidelines for the 2025 budget, considering that it should be realistic and ensure prudent financing and leave sufficient margins within the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) ceilings to face unforeseen circumstances and address the Union’s challenges.

The EU executive will most likely present next year’s budget proposal in the summer of 2024.

The budget for 2025 must be agreed between the Council and Parliament by the end of this year.