Parliament ups pressure in budget row

MEPs walk out of talks as they push leaders to boost funding for priority programmes

Tensions between negotiators on the 2021-27 EU budget have risen amid national governments’ ongoing refusal to increase funding to programmes identified as priorities by the European Parliament. Funding in the balance includes the budgets for the Horizon Europe R&D programme and the Erasmus+ mobility programme, which funds student exchange.

On 8 October, the Parliament’s negotiating team walked out on talks with their counterparts representing the governments in the Council of the EU. Parliament spokesman Jaume Duch Guillot said it was “impossible to move on” unless the Council agreed to “increase the [funding] ceilings”.