EU Parliament: Sassoli, “an ambitious multiannual financial framework is needed in support of growth and equality”. The Council’s proposal is inacceptable

(Strasbourg) The proposal put forward by the previous Finnish presidency “is insufficient and inacceptable”; the one submitted by the EU Commission is equally insufficient; so, the EU parliament is putting forward its own proposal for the multiannual financial framework 2021-2027. The European Parliament asks for the EU’s multiannual financial framework to be equivalent to 1.3% of the European GDP. The Finnish proposal stopped at a mere 1.07%, that of the EU Commission at 1.11%. “Between our position – the president of the EU Assembly, David Sassoli, explains – and the position of the presidency, there is a 240 billion’s difference”. Hence the need for negotiations that may reach a “more ambitious” and “adequate” proposal to face the challenges that loom ahead for the EU. This is the message that Sassoli and the EU Parliament send to the heads of state and government of the 27 member states, in the run-up to the special European Council of 20th February, which has the European Union’s budget for the next 7 years on the agenda. “The one of the MMF is the most important challenge at the start of the legislature. An ambitious budget is required. This is about funding operations and plans to face the new challenges that await us and is about refunding – Sassoli says – the EU’s most successful programmes in support of growth and equality”. Sassoli explains that, “if no agreement is found with the EU Council, then the European Parliament is ready to go all the way”, that is, to stop the MFF.
Valentina Bombelli