Europe is more than just debt crises, bureaucracy, and national narrow-mindedness. This is demonstrated by the Europa-Atlas, published by the Heinrich Böll Foundation in collaboration with the German Council on Foreign Relations, the European Council on Foreign Relations, and Le Monde Diplomatique.
The European Commission’s proposal for the 2028–2034 MFF opens a chance to raise ambition on climate, social, economic and security goals. This framing paper outlines key budget needs, priority areas and governance reforms.
The next MFF proposes centralised National and Regional Partnership Plans, shifting power to national governments and the European Commission. While promising coherence, this risks weaker regional involvement and oversight.
The 2028–2034 MFF proposal acknowledges social pressures but risks diluting the EU’s social dimension. Social spending is consolidated without a dedicated European Social Fund line, while guarantees are weakened.
The European Commission’s new MFF proposal introduces five new own resources to fund Next Generation EU debt and modernise EU revenues. This paper assesses the package and argues for a balanced basket of genuine new resources to support EU goals.