The European Commission presents the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2028-2034, valued between 1.8 and 2 trillion euros. However, analysts warn that the effective spending power barely reaches 1.15% of gross national income, once the NextGenerationEU debt is discounted. This marginal increase is insufficient to cover the bloc's new priorities.
Technological innovation and defense: the challenge of a tight budget 🚀
The proposal allocates funds to industrial competitiveness, climate transition, and defense, sectors that demand significant technological investment. However, the real capacity to finance R&D or digital infrastructures is limited by the narrow fiscal margin. Projects in semiconductors, artificial intelligence, or cybersecurity will directly compete with EU enlargement and support for Ukraine. Efficiency will be key to preventing the MFF from becoming a catalog of intentions without material backing.
Brussels discovers that money doesn't grow on the budget trees 🌳
The EU has achieved the feat of announcing a historic budget that, after paying for the broken dishes of the pandemic, looks more like a weight-loss diet than a growth plan. While leaders debate whether the glass is half full or half empty, taxpayers watch as 1.15% of GNI is stretched like chewing gum to cover defense, climate, Ukraine, and enlargement. In the end, perhaps the most innovative thing is creative accounting.