After months of negotiations, and a veto by Hungary and Poland on the rule of law mechanism, the European Union finally has a long-term budget for the period 2021-2027 (MFF) as well as a Recovery Fund to support member states beleaguered by the Covid-19 pandemic.

While the MFF and Recovery Fund broke new ground, particularly in terms of inclusion of Own Resources and conditioning disbursement of EU funds on respect for the rule of law, it still falls short of the Parliament’s demands and the amount needed to support citizens and protect our planet from an unprecedented crisis.

The Left’s Co-President Manon Aubry comments:

“The final MFF agreement falls short of addressing both the social and the climate crisis.

“The deal is well below the 1,324 billions initially requested by the European Parliament: those 250 extra billion euros would have made a crucial difference in education, research, agriculture, cohesion, and more

“The basket of new own resources is equally lacking in ambition with the most important sources such as the Financial Transaction Tax postponed almost indefinitely.

“European leaders are trying to sell us a ‘fantastic MFF’ by telling us a Christmas fairytale but we don’t believe in Santa Claus anymore!”