The European Parliament votes against the centralization of European funds in Madrid

BrusselsMore pressure to keep European funds decentralized, such as the European Cohesion Funds. The Eurochamber has voted against Brussels' proposal for the next European multiannual budgets (2028-2034), in which it proposes that this item – currently managed by regional and municipal administrations – be controlled by state governments. In this way, in the case of Catalonia, they would cease to be in the hands of the Generalitat and would depend on Madrid, which would have the final say in distributing throughout the State the financing that comes from Brussels.

The European Commission initially proposed that the Cohesion Funds, which usually represent around a third of the EU's total budget, follow a procedure similar to the financing approved for pandemic recovery, known as Next Generation. These funds are only disbursed as long as the member states meet certain requirements and approve the measures they have committed to implementing with the EU, and therefore, Brussels has a much higher control over state policies.

However, faced with criticism from a good part of the member states – including Spain – and about 150 European regions – including Catalonia –, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, promised that the management of the Cohesion Funds would remain as before and, therefore, the regions would continue to coordinate them directly with Brussels. Nevertheless, negotiations on the next European budgets have just begun and those who have the most weight in the discussions are not the European Parliament or the regions, but the state governments and the European Commission.

More money to compensate for the great rearmament

The European Commission proposed an increase in allocations for defense and military industry matters, primarily at the expense of historically key areas for the European Union, such as the Cohesion Funds themselves or those for the common agricultural policy (CAP). For this reason, and with the aim of preventing the increase in military spending from resulting in cuts in other areas, the European Parliament has also voted in favor of increasing the overall EU general budget by 10% between 2028 and 2032.

Along the same lines, the European Parliament advocates for postponing the repayment deadlines for the debt generated by the pandemic recovery funds and, therefore, having more budgetary margin to avoid making cuts in any area. A position shared by several member states, such as France and Spain, which want to increase the EU's general accounts, although there are other European partners –Germany and, among others, the Netherlands– who oppose any increase in the community budgets, as is usual.