The first trilogue on the draft Budgetary Plan for 2025 (see EUROPE 13435/5) took place on Thursday 25 July under the Hungarian Presidency. The EU Council’s position having been adopted on Wednesday 17 July (see EUROPE 13455/8), the Hungarian Minister for the Budget, Péter Banai, presented it to the European Parliament.
Jean-Marc Germain (S&D, French) has replaced Victor Negrescu (S&D, Romanian) in his role as rapporteur, in order to defend the European Parliament’s position at this trilogue. Contacted by Agence Europe, the MEP explained that the Committee on Budgets had taken “positive points” from the European Commission’s proposal, which provides for the use of “sufficient existing margins for manoeuvre” to finance the EU’s needs.
Unsurprisingly, Jean-Marc Germain reported that the European Parliament had already expressed its opposition to “cuts by the Council of the EU”. He said that this represented “1.7 billion” and that “cohesion and single market policy on health programmes, for example”, would be affected. Instead, the European Parliament insisted on the “major efforts required” in the future, in the face of “climate change” and as part of the “Next Generation EU fund. The European Parliament’s political groups will adopt their positions at the beginning of September. (Original version in French by Florent Servia)