The EU's next long-term budget, the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) covering 2028 to 2034, was billed as a historic overhaul. In practice, experts say it falls short.
With a headline envelope of roughly €1.8-2 trillion, the Commission's proposal is the biggest in the Union’s history. But after repayments on NextGenerationEU pandemic debt, the effective new spending power shrinks to around 1.15 percent of EU gross national income, barely above the current framework. The bloc is asked to take on defence, industrial competitiveness, climate transition, enlargement, and support for Ukraine.
"It is not a budget fit for the union we have today," says Eulàlia Rubio, Senior Research Fellow at the Jacques Delors Institute. "It's a budget that would work very well for a more unified union, with a stronger sense of political unity. We don't have that,” she told Euronews.
The budget “needs a fundamental rethink and I think I align with the Commission on that. We needed to put everything on the table and reshape or rethink the way we use the EU money,” says Rubio, reflecting the verdict from think tanks, the European Court of Auditors, and the European Parliament.
The MFF needs a rethink that goes beyond the reallocation of funds. It needs a redesign of how money is planned, financed, and governed.
