MEPs met to kick off discussions on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), the long-term framework regulating how much each member state has to contribute to the common budget over a seven-year period. Greek MEP Dimitrios Papadimoulis hit out at the EU for presenting an “unacceptable” budget and warned that the European Parliament could see a “slowdown” as the union faces a “looming crisis”. European Council President Charles Michel was heavily criticised for skipping the debate on the EU budget despite the institution being in charge of the draft budget.
Mr Papadimoulis told the Parliament: “The absence of Mr Charles Michel in today’s debate is a very bad sign for those who are following.
“Mrs von der Leyen, you presented a programme for five years. You’ve obtained a vote of confidence.
“So it’s not correct to say that you’re just an intermediary between the Parliament and the Council.
“To finance the project that you presented, will need at least 1.3 percent of GNI, which is called for by the European Parliament by a large majority.”
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He continued: “But we can’t put into place the Green Pact without having severe cuts in cohesion policy and agricultural policy.
“There’ll be no money left for investments and innovation.
“We will face a slowdown in European Parliament, but we’ll also face a crisis, which is looming, so we must have more ambitions still in the budget.
“We need to talk about practical things to have a satisfactory compromise between the three legislators.”
EU member states are split on how to best bridge the funding gap Britain left in the budget after Brexit.
Northern European members like Austria, Denmark and Germany could see their annual contribution to the MFF increase dramatically over the next seven years.
The current proposals, Germany’s payments would increase from €16billion (13.5billion) to €26billion (£22.8billion).
The Netherlands and Austria would also see their contributions double to €8billion (£6.7billion) and €2billion (£1.7billion) respectively.
Earlier this week European Council President Charles Michel met with EU negotiations to discuss their priorities for the budget, which will determine spending from 2021-27, ahead of next week’s plenary on the matter.