Parliament clashes with Council on EU’s 2017 budget and MFF mid-term revision
Parliament debated both the mid-term revision of the EU’s multiannual financial framework (MFF) 2014-2020 and the EU budget for 2017 with budgets Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva on Wednesday afternoon. For the 2017 budget debate, MEPs were joined by Slovakia’s state secretary for finance Ivan Lesay, representing the Council Presidency.
Parliament clashed with Council on the actual financial needs for next year’s budget to honour EU pledges to combat youth unemployment, tackle the migration crisis and boost economic growth.
MEPs also reiterated their demand to negotiate the MFF mid-term revision jointly with the EU’s budget for 2017, as the decisions on the former are expected to be integrated into the latter. They deplored the facts that no Council representative was present for the MFF debate and that member states still had yet to adopt any position on the urgent MFF revision.
Wednesday’s plenary vote on the EU’s 2017 budget triggers three weeks of “conciliation” talks with the Council (up to 17 November this year), with the aim of reaching a deal between the two institutions in time for next year's budget to be voted by Parliament and signed by its President in December.
You can watch the recorded plenary debate on EP Live and EbS+