Ahead of a Commission proposal, expected later this year, on further EU sources of income, the European Parliament assess the revenue side of the EU budget and advocate several new “own resources”. In a resolution adopted on the 10th of May, the MEPs’ assessment of the reform process under the “roadmap for the introduction of new own resources” affirms that a lack of reform would have severe negative effects on the future of the European Union, its policies, objectives, and the confidence of Europeans and investors in the Union.

The Next Generation EU (NGEU) recovery repayments and borrowing charges are expected to be at least 15 billion euros every year until 2058 on average, and MEPs are “highly worried” that the funds generated by the new own resources won’t be enough to cover them all. Additional obstacles that highlight the need to revaluate the EU system of own resources include the economic and social shock of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the significant impact of inflation on the EU budget, and the intensifying global competition to determine the future of clean energy technology production.

MEPs propose a variety of new revenue streams for the EU budget, including corporate tax-based own resources, the financial transaction tax, a new fair border mechanism, a tax on crypto-assets, green own resources, and national contributions based on statistics. The EU budget will need to pay back debt incurred under the EU recovery plan without jeopardizing investments and other EU programs.

A first round of new own resources has already been suggested by the Commission for 2021. The MEPs request that the next round of ideas be submitted by the Commission “as soon as possible and no later than the third quarter of 2023.”

The MEPs consider that the European Parliament should play an enhanced role in the decision-making process for own resources “to ensure the visibility, legitimacy and democratic accountability of EU public finances.”

You can find more details at the Parliament’s website.

To learn more about current calls for proposals or Eurodiaconia’s funding events, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our Projects and EU Funding Officer Giorgia Signoretto at giorgia.signoretto@eurodiaconia.org.