Today, the European Parliament and the Member States reached a common understanding for next year’s €164.3 billion budget of the Union, to be voted on by MEPs as soon as

“The first annual budget after the start of the global pandemic will be an important part of the European recovery, which will not be possible without dynamic small and medium-sized enterprises. The budget for 2021 will strongly support the modernisation of Europe and investments in healthcare, digitalisation and infrastructure”, stated Karlo Ressler MEP, the EPP Group’s negotiator for next year’s EU budget.

“In the past two months, in the heat of the negotiations, how many times did we hear and read that Parliament was slow, irresponsible and jeopardising the timely start of the new budget and recovery? The facts are there: we have an agreement on the EU budget for 2021, the long-term EU budget 2021-2027, the decision on reform of the EU revenue system and the rule of law precondition for EU funding. We did our work. It’s high time for the EU governments to do their part”, stated José Manuel Fernandes MEP, who is the EPP Group's Spokesman in the Budgets Committee.

The EPP Group has criticised the Polish and Hungarian governments’ veto against the EU's €1.8 trillion budget and Recovery Plan, stating that they are "creating a fictional opposition", when refusing the rule of law as a precondition for receiving EU funds.

“The current blockade in the Council is penalising all European citizens, including the Hungarian and the Polish. Our citizens, our businesses, our researchers, our regions, they cannot wait, they cannot be harmed”, Fernandes concluded.