The Parliament also called for more earmarking of funds for EU programs, and the imposition of new, EU-wide taxes on online gambling, tech giants such as Amazon and Google, and crypto firms.
The Commission’s proposal for the 2028 to 2034 period envisages €1.8 trillion for expenditure on areas such as subsidies for farmers, industrial development and international aid schemes. In addition, it earmarks around €165 billion to pay back the common debt that was issued to finance the EU’s post-Covid recovery package — a measure that makes the total budget rise to €1.984 trillion.
Parliament is calling for the total size of the budget to be expanded to €2 trillion, excluding the Covid debt repayments. That would effectively mean increasing its size by 10 percent.
“We believe we cannot do more with less, that is a myth,” said Siegfried Mureșan of the conservative European People’s Party, who is the Parliament’s lead budget negotiator alongside Carla Tavares of the Socialists & Democrats.