European Union

The European Union has decided to end imports of natural gas from Russia by the end of 2027 at the latest. The decisions comes after 24 EU countries voted in favour of the move while Hungary and Slovakia voted against it and Bulgaria abstained. The governments in Budapest and Bratislava now plan to challenge the decision before the European Court of Justice (ECJ). Europe's commentators discuss the options for gas supplies to the bloc.

Israeli authorities have reopened the only border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt for a limited number of people. More than two months after the UN resolution on the peace plan, Europe's press takes a sceptical look at the situation on the ground.

Several winners at the Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles on Sunday used their acceptance speeches to criticise the actions of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE and to make other political statements. Afterwards, US President Donald Trump described the event as "garbage" and announced that he would be taking legal action against its presenter.

In the Czech Republic, President Petr Pavel and Andrej Babiš's right-wing coalition government are locked in a fierce dispute after Foreign Minister Petr Macinka tried to force the head of state to appoint Filip Turek, the Motorist Party's honorary president, as minister of the environment. At least 80,000 people took to the streets in Prague on Sunday to support Pavel.

For the first time since 2019, the freezing temperatures mean that motor vehicles could travel across the ice from Estonia's mainland to its islands. However, the authorities are refusing to set up ice roads on the grounds that they are too expensive, too risky, and that no money has been allocated to such roads in the budget. Locals are now driving across the ice at their own risk in some places.

Written by Tim Peters.

The European Parliament is fully committed to ensuring an ambitious EU long-term budget that meets the Union’s many challenges in the years to come. Therefore, Parliament’s two co-rapporteurs on the MFF, Siegfried Mureşan (EPP, Romania) and Carla Tavares (S&D, Portugal), insist on a significantly higher volume for the 2028-2034 multiannual financial framework (MFF) than proposed by the European Commission. In their draft interim report, Parliament’s two co-rapporteurs propose an overall size of 1.38 % of EU gross national income (GNI), 1.27 % of EU GNI for the MFF as such and 0.11 % of EU GNI for the repayment of debt created by Next Generation EU (NGEU). The MFF constitutes the EU’s long-term budgetary plan, setting a maximum level of spending (‘ceilings’) for each major category of expenditure (‘heading’) in accordance with Article 312 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

In their draft, the two co-rapporteurs propose to Parliament to continue its opposition against ‘the merging of different policies in one plan per Member State’. They welcome the substantial increase in financial resources proposed for greater investment in research, strategic autonomy, the clean transition, defence, technological sovereignty and economic resilience. However, they stress that the consolidation of programmes in the Competitiveness Fund reduces transparency and limits Parliament’s ability to ensure appropriate funding for specific policy objectives. The co-rapporteurs oppose the Commission approach on additional flexibility, which in their eyes sacrifices transparency and controls under the guise of efficiency, compromising programme quality and democratic accountability, and undermining Parliament’s role as the budgetary and discharge authority.

The European Commission presented its proposals for the 2028-2034 (MFF) on 16 July 2025 and 3 September 2025. The Commission proposed a budget amounting to a total of almost €1.8 trillion in commitments over seven years (in constant 2025 prices). The 2028-2034 budget proposed by the Commission corresponds to 1.26 % of the EU’s gross national income (GNI) including 0.11 % of EU GNI for the repayment of the debt created by NGEU grants. Excluding the NGEU repayment, the proposed post-2027 MFF would reflect, in nominal terms, an increase of €367.2 billion (+29 %). However, in real terms, the increase would only be 0.02 percentage points of GNI.

Academia, think-tanks, other EU institutions and bodies, and a variety of stakeholders are publishing a wealth of analysis and commentary on the proposed 2028-2034 MFF as it proceeds through negotiations (see our monthly digest).

OVERVIEW OF EPRS PUBLICATIONS ON THE 2028-2034 MFF PACKAGE: LEGISLATION IN PROGRESS BRIEFINGS:

• David Ashton and Pieter Baert, Single market and customs programme
• Bruno Bilquin and Eric Pichon, Global Europe instrument
• Krisztina Binder and Tarja Laaninen, Erasmus+ (to be published soon)
• Steven Blaakman, Union support for asylum, migration and integration
• Alessandro D’Alfonso, Karoline Kowald and Marin Mileusnic, National and regional partnership plans, European territorial cooperation and EU facility 2028-2034
• Alina Dobreva, System of Own Resources (to be published soon)
• Costica Dumbrava, Union support for the Schengen area, European integrated border management, and EU visa policy
• Clément Evroux, Horizon Europe 2028-2034: 10th EU research and innovation framework programme
• Clément Evroux, Proposal for a Council regulation on Euratom training programme 2028-2032 (to be published soon)
• Alina Georgescu, AgoraEU (to be published soon)
• Mathias Gullentops, Connecting Europe Facility 2028-2034: Financing EU infrastructure networks
• Issam Hallak, European competitiveness fund
• Karoline Kowald and Marianna Pari, Multiannual Financial Framework (to be published soon)
• Gabija Leclerc, Support for associated overseas countries and territories, including Greenland
• Rafał Mańko, Justice programme 2028-2034
• Rafał Mańko, Pericles 2028-2034: Exchange, assistance and training for the protection of the euro against counterfeiting
• Vasilis Margaras, ERDF – Cohesion Fund and conditions for EU support to regional policy
• Marin Mileusnic and Tim Peters, Budget expenditure tracking and performance framework (to be published soon)
• Marketa Pape, European Social Fund 2028-2034
• Martina Prpic, Union support for internal security
• Nikolina Šajn, Regulation on the common agricultural policy for the period 2028 to 2034
• Frederik Scholaert, Conditions for EU support to the CFP (2028-2034 programming period)
• Agnieszka Widuto, Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation and Decommissioning
• Agnieszka Widuto, The Nuclear decommissioning assistance programme of the Ignalina nuclear power plant in Lithuania (Ignalina programme) (to be published soon)
• Dessislava Yougova, Union Civil Protection Mechanism: 2028 2034 programming period

INITIAL APPRAISALS OF COMMISSION IMPACT ASSESSMENTS:

• Irmgard Anglmayer, Civil protection, preparedness and crisis response
• Irmgard Anglmayer and Esther Kramer, MFF 2028-2034: Quality analysis of the Commission’s impact assessments
• Josefina Capdevila Penalva, Regulation establishing Global Europe
• Andriana Efthymiadou, Nationally pre-allocated envelopes
• Dieter Frizberg, Reinforcing competitiveness in the EU
• Esther Kramer, Single Market and Customs Programme
• Nikolaos Sarris, Budget expenditure-tracking and performance framework
• Mari Tuominen, The AgoraEU, Erasmus+ and Justice programmes

FURTHER READING:

• Brief up-to-date state-of-play information on all legislative proposals of the 2028-2034 MFF package: EPRS Legislative Train Spotlight on 2028-2034 MFF package
• Legislative observatory, Interim report on the proposal for the multiannual financial framework for 2028-2034 2025/0571R(APP)
• Website on the EU long-term budget by DG COMM of the European Parliament
• European Commission draft legislative proposals: The 2028-2034 EU budget for a stronger Europe
• Draft interim report on the proposal for a Council regulation laying down the Multiannual Financial Framework for the years 2028 to 2034 (COM(2025)0571 – C10-0000/2025 – 2025/0571R(APP)), Committee on Budgets, Co-Rapporteurs: Siegfried Mureşan, Carla Tavares