Free-market think tanks challenge Commission's record €1.8tn proposal as member states and parliament manoeuvre ahead of crunch negotiations
Negotiations over the European Union’s next long-term budget have exposed deep divisions between institutions, member states and policy analysts over how much the bloc should spend, how it should raise the money, and whether a larger budget would meaningfully address Europe’s underlying competitiveness challenges.
The debate centres on the Multiannual Financial Framework for 2028-2034, which the European Commission has proposed at the largest level in EU history – up 32 per cent on the current framework – with five new revenue instruments designed to raise €44bn per year from member states on top of existing contributions.
The European Parliament has pushed for a total approaching €2tn. Epicenter, the European network of free-market think tanks, argues the next MFF should be capped at €1.54tn.
On 12 May, Epicenter launched its alternative budget at a Euractiv panel discussion in Brussels, where institutional representatives and critics of the Commission’s approach clashed over both the scale of ambition and the legitimacy of the proposed funding mechanisms.
