On Tuesday 2 January, the Belgian Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo, stressed that the European Union must have greater own resources, in particular to strengthen its autonomy vis-à-vis the other major powers and to deal with international crises, such as Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine.
In an interview with Politico as part of the start of the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, Mr De Croo took the view that the Union’s democratic legitimacy also derives from its financial capacity, with Europe’s population, including the most Eurosceptic, looking more to the Union to respond to the challenges posed.
In its work programme, the Belgian Presidency states that it will “facilitate the work on the legislative proposals for a new set of own resources” for the EU budget. While an extraordinary European summit is scheduled for Thursday 1 February to try to reach an agreement among the EU27 on the revision of the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework (see EUROPE 13315/1), on Monday 25 March it will be holding a conference in Brussels on the future of the EU budget.
Mr De Croo’s statements are a new hope for the 399 Members of the European Parliament who spoke out in favour of a new own resources package last November, without seeing the dossier move forward in the EU Council under the previous Spanish Presidency (see EUROPE 13289/10).
In 2022, traditional own resources (customs duties), levied on imports from third countries into the Union, accounted for just 10.5% of the annual budget. The contribution based on non-recycled plastic packaging waste accounted for just 2.5% of the European budget in the same year.
The European Parliament resolution proposes three new types of own resources based on levies on the carbon market and on corporate profits.
Link to details of EU budget expenditure and revenue: https://aeur.eu/f/a9x
Link to the European Parliament resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/9hq (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)