MFF 2028-2034: The EU needs the means to deliver

Klaus Heeger said: "The EU’s long-term budget must match the level of ambition that today’s cross-border challenges require and continue deliver tangible benefits to citizens, workers, and public services alike.

Over the past years, the EU has proven indispensable in responding to challenges that no single Member State can manage alone: the Covid-19 pandemic, continued in-migration, climate change mitigation, the twin green and digital industrial transitions, and Russia’s ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine that requires sustained further support. The EU is also widely expected to take on an effective role in safeguarding democratic values and the rule of law internally.

As such, the EU must be equipped with the resources it needs to respond to these challenges. If we expect the Union to act swiftly and effectively in times of crisis, then we must ensure its budget is sufficient in quantitative terms.

Further, the next MFF must function not only as an economic investment tool but also as a social compact. While Europe’s competitiveness and innovation capacity, needs to be strengthend, this must go hand in hand with efforts to reduce inequality, support workers and families, and uphold social cohesion. Europe’s Single Market must also be a social market. This means protecting jobs and working conditions, promoting strong public services, and investing in people – especially through issue-specific, dedicated structural and cohesion funds like ESF+, Erasmus+ and the Just Transition Fund.

Tying EU funds on the achievement of objectives in employment, social policy and democratic governance is vitel. Conditioning EU funding in the Member States to the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights and adherence to rule-of-law principles would help ensure the EU’s money fosters both prosperity and fairness.

In sum, the next MFF must also expand the EU’s commitment to resilient and crisis-proof public services, socially just transitions that ensure no worker or region is left behind, and active social dialogue, including the involvement of independent trade unions in the design, monitoring, and evaluation of EU funding programmes. As CESI, we have stressed in a previous consultation response to the European Commissio that inclusive stakeholder engagement is key to delivering an MFF that not only addresses Europe’s current and future challenges, but also builds a Union that delivers for all."

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