Labour MEP Alfred Sant has welcomed the agreement on the EU budget and the Covid-19 recovery package but has lamented the fact that EU decision- making structures are not delivering timely responses to crisis situations.
During a European Parliament plenary debate regarding the deal reached by Member States on the EU budget for the next seven years, Alfred Sant noted that the recovery investment programme will enable member states to counter the coronavirus recession while a rule of law procedure prevents the allocation of EU funds to purposes that contradict the EU’s fundamental values.
Alfred Sant stated that although the conclusion of the Multiannual Financial Framework negotiations was a positive development, a number of underlying realities must also be highlighted.
Masked by the recovery programme, targets initially set by the European Commission and the European Parliament as resources required to carry out the EU’s programme have by far not been reached.
Alfred Sant told the plenary session that the European Council and the European Parliament diverge totally in how to seek solutions to Union challenges, such as on own resources.
“The European Parliament is fuelling the perception that it wants more taxation on citizens – does this improve its political standing? There has been little real progress in designing rule of law evaluative processes that minimise politicisation”, Alfred Sant said.
In addition, rather than a Conference on the Future of Europe, we need an inter-governmental conference to first identify the priorities by which to unlock the most important institutional issues of the EU.
