“Never underestimate the Parliament,” its president, Roberta Metsola, warned in a press conference after the vote, insisting lawmakers will not simply “rubber-stamp” the budget proposed by the capitals.
Parliament’s pro-EU parties — the conservative European People’s Party (EPP), the Socialists & Democrats, the centrist Renew group and the Greens — all backed the call for more money for the EU to grapple with challenges such as defense and competitiveness.
“We believe we cannot do more with less; that is a myth,” said Siegfried Mureșan, a budget negotiator for the EPP. “Obviously the majority of members can only vote in favor if our demands are incorporated into the budget to a satisfactory extent.”
But these calls have fallen on deaf ears in fiscally conservative countries such as Germany and the Netherlands, which are pushing for a smaller budget.
“It is sad to see that the European Parliament wants to tackle the geopolitical and geoeconomic challenges of the 21st century with budget priorities deeply rooted in the last century,” said an EU diplomat who, like others quoted in this story, was granted anonymity to speak freely.
Days before the Parliament vote, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz — whose country contributes one quarter of the EU’s total budget — ruled out the Commission’s proposal from July as too big.