In the long-term EU budget this week, The Left resists ‘austerity for arms’
The European Commission is due to present the first part of its long-term budget package known as the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) tomorrow, 16 July. The Commission must resist its worst instincts to impose ‘austerity for arms’, ramping up defence spending at the expense of policies with a direct impact on livelihoods and public services, such as the Common Agricultural Policy and cohesion funding.
The Left opposes any cuts to cohesion, agriculture and fisheries policies and calls instead for a significant increase for these important measures. The European Social Fund (ESF+) in particular must be significantly increased, and attempts to divert funding to other priorities such as defence must be resisted. The Left also calls for a €20bn European Child Guarantee, which would have a significant role in combating child poverty and social exclusion.
The Left’s rapporteur in the Committee on Budgets João Oliveira (PCP, Portugal) said “We need an MFF with more social progress and less gunpowder. The Commission continues to focus on defending the interests of economic groups and multinationals, on the arms race and war, while neglecting the responses to the real problems faced by the people. The possible reduction of funds such as Cohesion Policy or the CAP, the increase in conditionalities, and the imposition of neoliberal reforms are examples of misguided choices that must be reversed.”
The new MFF must address real problems. The budget must focus on lifting people out of poverty, promoting a just climate transition and supporting small-scale fisheries and farming communities. This includes dedicated Nature Restoration and Ocean Funds and the protection of the LIFE programme for climate action.
The Left notes with concern the shift away from dedicated funding and towards national plans, a move which threatens transparency and accountability while sidelining local authorities and communities. The Left opposes linking funding disbursements to the implementation of reforms, particularly in the framework of the European Semester, which would essentially make austerity measures a condition for receiving EU funding.
