Socialists seek progress on budget reform

MEPs from the Socialists and Democrats group have met to discuss how to convince member states to change the way the EU budget is funded.

At an S&D group meeting on 8 December, MEPs and political advisers looked at options to generate funding from so-called own resources. These could include a multinational corporations tax, a tax on EU financial transactions or an environmental tax on carbon, the meeting heard.

The S&D group wants to generate funding from own resources to decrease the proportion of EU funding that comes from member states, which currently stands at around 80 per cent. French MEP and vice-president of the S&D group, Isabelle Thomas, told the meeting that this would improve the stability of the EU budget. Because national governments see EU funding as “voluntary contributions”, this results in “arguing over exact amounts each year”, she said.