EU agreement on long-term budget is a key step forward for Europe

Following today’s agreement reached by the European Parliament and the Council on the EU Multiannual Financial Framework for 2021-2027, BusinessEurope Director General Markus J. Beyrer said: "Today's agreement between the European Parliament and Council on the MFF, the EU's long-term budget, is a stepping stone towards helping the EU economy recover from the damage the COVID crisis continues to inflict."

The agreement followed lengthy negotiations, and BusinessEurope welcomes that parties were ultimately prepared to find common ground in the spirit of compromise: "We can all point to areas of expenditure where we would have liked to see more, and while we welcome the additional resources for Horizon Europe, we continue to support a greater emphasis on innovation and R&D. Nevertheless, we fully support this agreement, which demonstrates that EU policy-makers are able to make compromises for the common good and ensures the EU is at the heart of our long-term response to this crisis.

It is now important that the deal reached is swiftly ratified to further ensure certainty for the millions of businesses and other actors that will be able to make use of EU-funded programmes", Beyrer noted.  

BusinessEurope will follow the implementation of the EU 2021-27 Multiannual Financial Framework very carefully to make sure that the money is well spent.