3 days ago
Socialists blast Brussels plan to tie EU budget to national reforms
The centre-left S&D group has come out swinging against the Commission's plans to link the bloc's long-term budget payments to national reforms.
Ahead of the next €1.2 trillion spending plan – the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) – the Commission wants tighter control over when EU cash is disbursed, proposing that payments be made only after countries implement competitiveness-boosting reforms.
After initially rejecting the idea, the largest parliamentary group, EPP, fell in line .
Now, the Socialists, the Parliament's second-largest group, say their help getting the budget through the hemicycle means letting go of the 'reform-for-cash' scheme.
'We will strongly oppose the possibility for national [budget] plans to be underpinned by a 'payment against reforms' rule,' runs a letter sent to Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday, seen by Euractiv, and signed by S&D chief Iratxe García Pérez and her lieutenants.
While the EPP could get the budget through Parliament by relying on a right-wing majority, the group's chief, Manfred Weber, told Euractiv that the budget would be adopted with the votes from the Socialists.
In their letter, the centre-left MEPs also stressed the need for a stand-alone social fund to fend off any attempt to repurpose the €142 billion European Social Fund for other priorities, such as defence.
'The urgency of the political situation does not allow useless political games,' the Socialists, who helped elect the current EU executive in June 2024, wrote.
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