On Thursday 3 April, MEPs adopted their position on Parliament’s estimates of expenditure and revenue for 2026 by 432 votes to 127 with 54 abstentions.
With estimated expenditure of €2,636,241,620 and revenue of €265,378,397, the draft estimates put the EU’s contribution to financing European Parliament expenditure for 2026 at €2,370,863,22.
Parliament said it was “concerned about the situation of the current MFF’s Section 7” - relating to public administration - following the EU Council’s refusal to raise ceilings during the 2021-2027 MFF’s mid-term review.
The digital transition (investment in cybersecurity and AI), the ecological transition (reducing Parliament’s carbon footprint) and multilingualism, communication and disinformation are among the Parliament’s priorities.
“Parliament needs to focus on its core tasks, reduce administrative burdens and rationalise costs, particularly when it comes to MEPs’ duties”, said rapporteur Matjaž Nemec (S&D, Slovenian) after the vote.
The Right against European Ethics Body. The Socialist MEP regretted the rejection of an amendment aimed at establishing an Ethics Body to step up the fight against corruption. Tabled by the S&D, Renew Europe and the Greens/EFA, the amendment called for “respecting the interinstitutional agreement signed on 15 May 2024 for a well-equipped ethics body capable of promoting a common culture of ethics and transparency within the EU institutions”.
According to Matjaž Nemec, “right-wing MEPs have once again revealed their ‘true colours’, having found themselves embroiled in the Huawei affair”. With 298 votes against, 283 in favour and 12 abstentions, the amendment was overwhelmingly rejected by the EPP, PfE, ECR and ENS MEPs and supported by The Left, the Greens/EFA, S&D and Renew Europe. The day before, an amendment calling for “the full and urgent implementation of the agreement establishing an interinstitutional body on ethical standards for members of the institutions” was narrowly adopted in the EU’s 2026 budget guidelines (see EUROPE 13613/7).
The budgetary framework adopted by Parliament will now be forwarded to the European Commission, which will draw up the broad outlines of the overall EU budget for 2026 by early summer. (Original version in French by Florent Servia)