EU Parliament will not back budget that weakens oversight, negotiator says

The European Parliament will not back the ​European Union's next long-term budget if it ​weakens lawmakers' powers to scrutinise spending, ‌Siegfried Muresan, ​one of Parliament's negotiators, said on Monday, setting up a clash with the European Commission.

While some member-states have already called for cuts to ‌the Commission's proposed budget, Muresan's statement opens up a new front of contention around spending oversight and control over allocation of EU funds. The next seven-year budget needs the Parliament's approval to enter into force.

Muresan, a European ‌Parliament co-rapporteur on the next Multiannual Financial Framework, criticised aspects of the Commission's plan to give member ‌states greater flexibility in allocating EU funds through National and Regional Partnership Plans. The Commission has said the overhaul would make the EU budget more flexible and responsive by reducing bureaucracy and allowing governments to redirect spending more easily as priorities change, while ⁠tying ​payments to results rather ⁠than costs.

A recent analysis by Zsolt Darvas of Brussels think tank Bruegel argued the plans would shift important spending decisions from the ⁠legislative stage, where Parliament has significant influence, to implementation by national governments and the Commission, reducing parliamentary oversight. "We must ​preserve the European character of the budget. This includes transparency, accountability and parliamentary oversight," Muresan told ⁠Reuters.

"Parliament must retain its full legislative and budgetary powers and its role in ensuring democratic scrutiny of EU spending, including national ⁠and ​regional plans." Muresan said greater flexibility for governments should not come at the expense of accountability or undermine common EU priorities.

"Farmers, regions and businesses need predictable European funding to invest. Flexibility for national governments ⁠cannot come at the expense of beneficiaries or turn the EU budget into 27 separate national agendas," he ⁠said. "One thing is ⁠clear: the next long-term EU budget needs Parliament's consent to enter into force. We will not support a budget that weakens these guarantees."

The European Commission did ‌not immediately ‌respond to a request for comment.