EU Parliament blocks cuts proposed by right-wing governments to youth and research funding

In the negotiations between the European Parliament and the Council, MEPs, led by the Socialists, managed to prevail with a preliminary agreement reached last Saturday. Through a series of amendments, they overturned the cuts sought by member states, mostly led by center-right or right-wing governments. Therefore, next year’s EU budget will have an additional €230.7 million, across all budget items.

Overall, the EU budget for 2025 amounts to nearly €200 billion, a 6% increase over the previous year. Here are some of the investments that will be preserved:

• €61 million for the Erasmus+ project
• €25 million for the Horizon research program, including €7.5 million for the European Innovation Council and
• €2.5 million for Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
• €3 billion from Cohesion Funds to support regions affected by natural disasters, including recent floods.

The battle between Parliament and the Council is only just beginning

“Reversing these cuts is important because we have demonstrated that we can counteract a negative trend, which would have meant a reduction in Europe’s capacity to invest,” Nicola Zingaretti, head of the Democratic Party delegation in the European Parliament, explained to Fanpage.it. “The budget was drawn up by the previous Commission, which was much more center-left than the current one. The Council’s decision to reduce common European spending is clearly a political choice, consistent with the Europe of Nations that anti-Europeans claim to want. The European Parliament, along with the previous Commission, opposed this approach,” Zingaretti explained.

“Injecting more resources into Europe doesn’t mean taking them away from the state. We’ve averted cuts, but we’re only at the beginning; this is just a taste of the kind of political battle we’ll have to wage in the coming years. Parliament doesn’t have a majority per se, but one is determined on individual dossiers. The game is wide open for the next five years; there’s no predetermined framework. There’s no definitive pro-European majority, but there’s no right-wing majority either,” Zingaretti emphasized. “It will be a fight to the last vote to save the results.”

The Commission has approved Italy’s budget: what it means

Italy’s Draft Budgetary Plan—the annual plan that the Italian government must submit to the European Commission by mid-October, which contains economic forecasts and key fiscal policy measures for 2025—along with those of seven other euro area member states (Greece, Cyprus, Latvia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Croatia, and France), has been declared by the EU Commission to be in line with budgetary recommendations, as their net spending is expected to fall within the ceilings. Of the 17 budgets submitted, eight have received approval. Italy’s accounts have been deemed satisfactory: the green light has been given for both the 2025 budget and the multi-year debt repayment plan over seven years, which applies the new rules of the Stability Pact.

According to Nicola Zingaretti, the Meloni government has no reason to celebrate victory. The timing may not be coincidental, given the current disputes among the ruling parties, who are trying to plant a few more flags on the next budget. “They have a huge problem,” Zingaretti commented, “they can’t approve the budget because they have fully accepted the constraints on the recovery plan. Meloni made it clear to her allies: all margins for increased public spending have been exhausted, and so the majority is exploding.

It’s interesting that the Commission has just approved Italy’s budget, while discussions between the League and Forza Italia continue in Rome. European assistance could lend a helping hand to Minister Giorgetti, who keeps repeating that the blanket is too short. Brussels’ approval could help put an end to these discussions within the center-right.