The European budget for 2028-2034 was presented by the European Commission on Wednesday 16 July. A historic budget of almost 2,000 billion euros for the period 2028-2034. But behind the spectacular figures lies a political choice with far-reaching consequences: will Europe prioritise solidarity and transition, or industrial competitiveness and social austerity?
On 16 July 2025, the European Commission unveiled its draft Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for the period 2028-2034. An impressive envelope of almost 2,000 billion euros, designed to strengthen the Union in a world marked by geopolitical instability, climate change, the war in Ukraine, digital transformation and new economic tensions. The ambition is clear. But the European budget priorities for 2028-2034 are open to question. Between productivism, rearmament and technocratic fléchage, does this budget mark a break with the past? Or does it confirm a liberal headlong rush, disguised as a strategy of resilience?
An institutional mechanism designed to reassure Berlin
The European budget for 2028-2034 has been drawn up by the European Commission, taking into account the balance of power between Member States. Its adoption will depend on a unanimous vote of the 27 Member States, followed by the European Parliament. However, its structure reflects a clear desire to reassure the influential capitals, particularly Berlin and The Hague, by hammering home key words such as budgetary discipline, European added value and flexibility.
Among the new features put forward is the creation of regional and national partnerships designed to adapt European strategy to local realities. Behind this consensual formula lies the risk of renationalising cohesion policies: a long-standing demand of conservative governments from Warsaw to Stockholm. This could lead to competition between regions, to the detriment of the very principle of European solidarity.
A record European budget for 2028-2034… but for which priorities?
The Commission is highlighting an unprecedented budget of €1,920 billion. An increase that seems spectacular, provided we forget that the previous budget had been inflated by a post-Covid recovery plan of 800 billion euros. The return to “pre-crisis” levels is cleverly disguised as historic growth.
This budget is based on a number of levers:
- An increase in the Member States’ contribution, from 1.1% to 1.26% of their gross national income.
- New own resources for the EU: taxes on multinationals (turnover > €100m), electronic waste and tobacco, and extension of the carbon mechanism at borders.
- Three priorities: competitiveness and innovation (€451 billion), security and defence (€131 billion), and climate change (officially 35% of the budget).
But the logic of the distribution raises a number of criticisms: the choices made emphasise industry, large groups and security, while social policies, disadvantaged areas and public services are marginalised.
A strategy dictated by global competition
In its communication, the European Commission states that it wants to build a strong and independent Europe to face global challenges. It talks of “strategic autonomy”, “industrial sovereignty” and “the ability to react quickly”.
But this rhetoric masks a neo-liberal refocusing. Competitiveness is elevated to a central pillar, with no social or ecological conditions attached. This strategic choice aligns the Union with the logic of the markets, rather than making it a player in the transition to fairness and solidarity. The promise to “protect Europe’s citizens” is overshadowed by the implicit objective of keeping pace with the United States and China.
More flexibility, less transparency
The Commission is insisting on simplification and flexibility in the future European budget for 2028-2034. Credit lines will be extended, transfers made easier, and funds made “more responsive” to crises.
But this promise of adaptability masks a worrying trend: the centralisation of decisions in Brussels and their reinterpretation by national governments risk weakening the direct access of local authorities, associations and regions. Democratic control is diminishing, transparency is diminishing, and the first to be served will once again be the best-endowed states, or the large companies capable of putting together complex dossiers in record time.
Competitiveness and innovation: a windfall for multinationals
The €451 billion earmarked for innovation in the 2028-2034 European budget is presented as a lever for transforming the European economy. Artificial intelligence, digitisation, green industry… In theory, it’s all there. But in the absence of binding mechanisms on social or environmental spin-offs, there is a risk that these funds will primarily feed the industrial giants, to the detriment of SMEs, local authorities or public services.
Without job guarantees or redistribution criteria, this pillar could become a simple booster for the dominant players in the European market.
Defence: accelerated rearmament at the expense of solidarity
Defence spending is set to rise to 131 billion euros. Europe is thus aligning itself with a logic of progressive militarisation, justified by the war in Ukraine and the argument of strategic sovereignty.
But this approach is a cause for concern for the 2028-2034 European budget. For many left-wing MEPs, every euro invested in armaments is a euro not invested in food-producing agriculture, social housing or health. The shift towards security seems to be taking precedence over solidarity.
Ecological transition: diluted objectives, ambiguous funding
The Commission is promising that 35% of the budget will go towards the climate transition. But the definition of what is “green” remains unclear. Investments in industrial infrastructure, methanisation or agro-technology are included in this expenditure, with no clear distinction between what is sustainable… and what is not.
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) would be integrated into local partnerships, at the risk of losing its cohesion objectives. Direct aid to small farms would be drastically reduced, as would funding for small-scale fishing. Here again, the logic of the market takes precedence over that of resilience.
Europe’s 2028-2034 budget: the forgotten territories, public services and social cohesion
Cohesion policies, which until now have aimed to reduce development disparities between regions, have seen their number of programmes reduced from 27 to 8. Social funds are being integrated into broader schemes, with no guaranteed access for fragile territories.
The whole idea of a Europe of shared progress is being undermined. Health, education, housing, youth… all priorities relegated to the background in favour of economic objectives deemed more profitable.
The Left denounces a neo-liberal shift in disguise
For The Left Group, supported by the Greens and several Socialists, the 2028-2034 European budget represents a betrayal of the European project of solidarity. Competitiveness is becoming an end in itself, ecological transition a marketing ploy, and flexibility a synonym for bypassing democracy.
Their alternative proposals include:
- Strengthen the European Social Fund and safeguard cohesion policy.
- Make financing conditional on social and ecological commitments.
- Really tax multinationals and the very rich.
- Giving the most vulnerable regions real power over the use of funds.
- Set up a democratic audit of the European budget.
Europe cannot claim to “protect its citizens” if it continues to give precedence to the logic of the market over that of justice. The choice of this 2028-2034 European budget proposed by the Commission is political, not technical. Does the European Union still have the courage to build a common project based on social justice, real ecology and democracy, or will it continue to lose itself in the dictates of the market?
