MFK: head of budget committee wary of weakening parliamentary control

The Commission presented its proposals on Wednesday for the multiannual budget of the European Union (multiannual financial framework – MFF) for the period from 2028 to 2034. One of the highlights is the intention to merge significant expenditure items such as agriculture and cohesion into one large envelope per member state, which must develop a national plan with the Commission.

His party N-VA supports subsidiarity, but Van Overtveldt is concerned about how this will work in practice and how the control will be managed. “It cannot be the intention that more power is given to the Commission and the powers of the elected Parliament are undermined,” said the Belgian chairman of the budget committee in the chamber, who notes that there are still many uncertainties regarding the concrete implementation of the proposals.

Van Overtveldt does welcome the proposed shifts in the multiannual budget, which respond to his plea for “a future-proof budget with more focus on defense, migration, and innovation.” However, he finds it “absurd” that the Commission wants to impose additional taxes on the largest companies in its search for new revenues. “A wrong signal at a time when we want those companies to compete with, for example, large American companies.”