(AGENPARL) – Wed 16 April 2025 Newsletter
ISSUE 8 – 2025
WEDNESDAY, 23 APRIL 2025,
09.00 – 12.30
ANTALL 4Q1, BRUSSELS
BUDG NEWSLETTER – ISSUE 8 – 2025
*** Wednesday, 23 April 2025, 09.00 – 12.30 ***
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Possibilities for simplification of cohesion funds
Managing authorities, intermediary bodies and beneficiaries continue
facing significant administrative burdens in the implementation of
balance between cutting red-tape and ensuring easier access to
funding on the one hand, and protecting the EU budget on the other
hand.
The rapporteur for opinion in BUDG, Ms Benjumea Benjumea, will
present her draft opinion underlining the considerable impact of
implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility on cohesion
policy and the lessons to be learnt from this for effective
simplification.
Rapporteur:
Isabel Benjumea Benjumea (EPP)
Shadows:
(S&D)
(PfE)
Bogdan Rzonca (ECR)
Anouk Van Brug (Renew)
(Greens/EFA)
(The Left)
Alexander Jungbluth (ESN)
Deadline for tabling amendments:
29 April 2025 at 17.00
Adoption in BUDG:
4-5 June 2025
Plenary: TBC
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Financial activities of the European Investment Bank –
annual report 2024
The BUDG Committee provides an opinion to the ECON Committee’s
report on Financial Activities of the European Investment Bank (EIB).
There are close links between the EU budget’s expenditure
instruments and the EIB. The budgetary guarantees will continue to
help “crowd in” additional investment under programmes such as
InvestEU in particular for projects with a strong economic rationale
and clear added value. The EIB group and the EU budget thus “share
risk” and achieve higher leverage.
In order to sustain its financial credibility and lending capacity, it is
crucial that the EIB safeguard its AAA rating, its financial
independence, risk profile and long-term sustainability.
Rapporteur:
Joachim Streit (Renew)
Shadows:
Karlo Ressler (EPP)
Carla Tavares (S&D)
(PfE)
(ECR)
Damian Boeselager (Greens/EFA)
Younous Omarjee (The Left)
Alexander Jungbluth (ESN)
Deadline for tabling amendments:
28 April 2025 at 12.00
Adoption in BUDG:
19 May 2025
Plenary: July 2025
2|Page
BUDG NEWSLETTER – ISSUE 8 – 2025
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Draft amending budget no 1 to the general budget 2025
entering the surplus of the financial year 2024
Following its adoption by the Commission on Wednesday 09 April
2025, the Draft Amending Budget N°1/2025 (DAB1) will be presented
in BUDG.
The purpose of DAB1 is to enter in the 2025 budget the surplus
resulting from the implementation of the budget year 2024, in
accordance with Article 18(3) of the Financial Regulation. The
implementation of the budget year 2024 shows a surplus of
EUR 1.3 billion, which is therefore entered as revenue in the 2025
budget.
Rapporteur:
Victor Negrescu (S&D)
Shadows:
Andrzej Halicki (EPP)
Auke Zijlstra (PfE)
Bogdan Rzońca (ECR)
Fabienne Keller (Renew)
Rasmus Andresen (Greens/EFA)
Nikolas Farantouris (The Left)
Alexander Jungbluth (ESN)
The Council plans to vote on the DAB on 16 June.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Proposal for a Council Regulation establishing the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) through
the reinforcement of the European defence industry instrument – Feedback from the
budgetary scrutiny procedure
On 19 March 2025, as part of the ReArm Europe Plan / Readiness 2030, the European Commission put
forward a proposal for a Council Regulation establishing the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) through the
reinforcement of the European Defence Industry Instrument. It aims at providing up to EUR 150 billion of
financial assistance to Member States in the form of loans backed by the Union budget and offering
advantageous financing terms due to the EU’s credit strength and market access. It will support the direct
acquisition of defence products or other products for defence purposes by means of common procurement
(with exceptions).
The SAFE proposal is based on Article 122 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, an emergency legal
basis which makes it possible for the Council to adopt “measures appropriate to the economic situation”,
and potential “Union financial assistance” without Parliament’s involvement. In order to address the
discrepancy between Parliament’s exclusion from the legislative process under Article 122 and its
responsibility as budgetary authority, the European Parliament had obtained from the Council and the
Commission, at the time of the MFF 2021-2027 negotiations, the signing of a joint declaration creating a
“procedure of budgetary scrutiny”. The joint declaration provides that, without prejudice to the powers of
the Council under Article 122 TFEU, a Joint Committee composed of representatives of the European
Parliament and the Council, with the Commision’s participation, will engage in a constructive dialogue with
a view to seeking a joint understanding of the budgetary implications of the envisaged legal act having due
regard to the urgency of the matter.
In the light of the potential appreciable budgetary implications of the SAFE instrument, a procedure of
budgetary scrutiny has been launched on that proposal, and a meeting took place on 8 April 2025. Members
who took part in the EP delegation to that meeting will report about it.
3|Page
BUDG NEWSLETTER – ISSUE 8 – 2025
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
2025 Budget: Section III – Commission
– DEC 5/2025 Sustainable Fisheries Agreements Partnership
An amount of approximately EUR 18 million is necessary to meet the
2025 financial obligations resulting from the new Implementing
(EUR 740 000). The Commission therefore proposes to transfer the
commensurate commitment and payment appropriations from the
reserve line to the main operational line.
This is because amounts foreseen for new fisheries agreements or for
the renewal of fisheries agreements, which enter into force after 1
January of the financial year concerned, are included in reserve.
Rapporteur:
Victor Negrescu (S&D)
Shadows:
Andrzej Halicki (EPP)
Auke Zijlstra (PfE)
Bogdan Rzońca (ECR)
Fabienne Keller (Renew)
Rasmus Andresen (Greens/EFA)
Nikolas Farantouris (The Left)
Alexander Jungbluth (ESN)
The Commission will present the transfer proposal and Members will hold an exchange of views. The vote is
tentatively foreseen on 19-20 May.
– No other transfer request
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
2025 Budget: Other Sections
– No transfer request
Rapporteur:
Niclas Herbst (EPP)
Shadows:
Nils Ušakovs (S&D)
Auke Zijlstra (PfE)
Bogdan Rzońca (ECR)
Fabienne Keller (Renew)
Kai Tegethoff (Greens/EFA)
João Oliveira (The Left)
Alexander Jungbluth (ESN)
4|Page
BUDG NEWSLETTER – ISSUE 8 – 2025
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Building Policy
Rapporteur:
– EC: JRC- building project in Seville – prior approval
Members of the BUDG Committee will vote on the construction a new
building to house the Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Seville. The total
project cost amounts to EUR 49 million. Both the construction of the
new building and its fitting will be financed with external assigned
revenue collected during the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial
Framework (MFF), and/or its predecessor.
The new building will have 320 workstations with their corresponding
auxiliary spaces, with a total gross floor area of 17,743 m2, and a gross
floor area above ground of 10,963 m2.
Olivier Chastel (Renew)
Shadows:
Monika Hohlmeier (EPP)
Nils Ušakovs (S&D)
Angeline Furet (PfE)
Ruggero Razza (ECR)
Ignazio Marino (Greens/EFA)
(The Left)
Alexander Jungbluth (ESN)
An early warning for this project was presented by the Commission to
the Committee on Budgets at its meeting of 31 August 2021.
– EC: JRC building project in Geel – early warning
The Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the Commission has informed the Committee on Budgets of their
intention of launching a profound renovation and extension of the Conference Building at the JRC site of
contingency. The project will be financed from external assigned revenue generated through the provision
of technical-scientific services to third parties by the JRC.
This building project would provide additional multifunctional spaces for work, collaboration and events, and
bring the existing 50-year old building to current standards.
The prior approval for this project will be submitted to the Budgetary Authority in the first quarter of 2025.
– EC: OIB Occupancy of three buildings in Brussels – early warning
The Commission has informed the Committee on Budgets that they are considering the occupation of the
following set of buildings, to replace buildings reaching the end of their life cycle or buildings whose lease
contracts are expiring:
 a building of approximately 30 000 m2 in 2028,
 a building of approximately 14 000 m2 in 2028,
 a building of approximately 35 000 m2 during the second half of 2027, for the exclusive use of the
Executive Agencies.
The usufruct contract proposals for these three buildings will be submitted to the Budgetary Authority in the
second half of 2025.
– EP: Signature of an usufruct contract for the MONTERRA building – prior approval
Members of the BUDG Committee will vote on the usufruct contract for the MONTERRA building, located at Rue
Montoyer 46, 1000, Brussels. The building will serve as a buffer building for office space capacity during the SPAAK
building renovation. The annual usufruct cost would amount to EUR 6,4 million.
The building offers a capacity of 750 workstations and 33 meeting rooms of various sizes. It has a gross above ground
surface of 19 251 m2.
The early warning related to the market prospection for this project was presented to the Committee on Budgets
on 23 September 2024.
– No other building request
5|Page
BUDG NEWSLETTER – ISSUE 8 – 2025
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
*** VOTING TIME ***
Mobilisation of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund
for Displaced Workers following an application from Belgium
— EGF/2024/003 BE/Van Hool
Rapporteur:
Janusz Lewandowski (EPP)
Members will consider the draft report prepared by Janusz
Lewandowski (EPP) on the European Commission’s proposal for a
decision to mobilise the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund for
Displaced Workers (EGF) to support 2 397 displaced workers of Van
Hool, a coachbuilder and manufacturer of buses, coaches and
trolleybuses in Lier, Belgium.
Shadows:
Mohammed Chahim (S&D)
(PfE)
(ECR)
Olivier Chastel (Renew)
Nicolae Ștefănuță (Greens/EFA)
(The Left)
(ESN)
financing of personalised services for the workers.
Adoption in BUDG:
23 April 2025
Plenary: May 2025
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
A revamped long-term budget for the Union in a changing
world
The Committee on Budgets will vote on the own-initiative report
prepared by the co-rapporteurs Siegfried Mureşan and Carla Tavares on
the next long-term budget.
The report sets out the Parliament’s vision for how the post-2027
multiannual financial framework (MFF) should be designed and
resourced, making the case for a long-term budget equipped to achieve
the EU’s policy goals, address emerging challenges, manage debt
sustainably and with the flexibility needed to respond to crises and
changing needs. It also argues for a simpler, more transparent budget
protected against misuse, fraud and breaches of the principles of the
rule of law and the Union’s values and underpinned by robust
parliamentary accountability.
Rapporteur:
Siegfried Mureşan (EPP)
Carla Tavares (S&D)
Shadows:
Tamás Deutsch (PfE)
Roberts Zile (ECR)
Fabienne Keller (Renew)
Rasmus Nordqvist (Greens/
João Oliveira (The Left)
Alexander Jungbluth (ESN)
Adoption in BUDG:
23 April 2025
Plenary: May 2025
6|Page
BUDG NEWSLETTER – ISSUE 8 – 2025
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Enhancing police cooperation in relation to the prevention,
detection and investigation of migrant smuggling and
trafficking in human beings, and on enhancing Europol’s
support to preventing and combating such crimes and
amending Regulation (EU) 2016/794
Members will vote on the draft budgetary assessment on the proposal
for amending the Europol regulation.
This budgetary assessment analyses the budgetary aspects of the
Proposal for a Regulation on enhancing Europol’s support to
preventing and combating the prevention, detection and
investigation of migrant smuggling and trafficking of human beings,
and whether the Proposal provides for sufficient financial and human
resources. It also determines whether the proposal is compatible with
the Multiannual Financial Framework and the corresponding
interinstitutional agreement, as well as the budgetary principles laid
down in the Financial Regulation.
Rapporteur:
Hélder Sousa Silva (EPP)
Shadows:
Giuseppe Lupo (S&D)
Julien Sanchez (PfE)
Bogdan Rzonca (ECR)
Joachim Streit (Renew)
Nicolae Stefanuta (Greens/EFA)
(The Left)
Alexander Jungbluth (ESN)
Deadline for tabling amendments:
02 April 2025 – 17.00
Adoption in BUDG:
23 April 2025
Plenary: TBC
The estimated financial impact of the proposal amounts to
EUR 48.9 million of operational appropriations under Heading 5, and
EUR 1.1 million of administrative appropriations under Heading 7 for
the period 2025-2027. The proposal sets out a staff increase of 50 FTEs at Europol, however being offset by
the future reinforcement in FRONTEX staff.
The rapporteur, Mr Hélder Sousa Silva, recommends that entrusting new tasks to decentralised agencies
should be financed through fresh appropriations, and redeployments from other programmes and priorities
should be limited and examined with due care. The conclusion of the rapporteur is that further clarifications
are needed on the Legislative Financial Statement accompanying the proposal, and more specifically on the
redeployment of financial and human resources from other programmes, agencies, and the parent DG.
7|Page
BUDG NEWSLETTER – ISSUE 8 – 2025
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Amending Regulation (EU) 2023/956 as regards simplifying
and strengthening the carbon border adjustment
mechanism
Members will vote on the draft budgetary assessment on the
simplification and strengthening of the carbon border adjustment
mechanism (CBAM). The CBAM regulation is in force and the
transitional period, a ‘dry run’ without actual payments yet, will end in
2025. As part of the Omnibus package, and in view of higher
competitiveness and lower administrative burden for EU companies
ahead of the ‘definitive phase’, the Commission proposes a
simplification to the CBAM regulation by adjusting the de minimis
threshold in terms of tonnage of imported CBAM goods (steel,
aluminium, cement, fertilizers) to 50 tons per year.
This would decrease significantly the number of importers /
declarants while lowering the embedded CO2 emission ‘in scope’ by
only around 1%, thus leaving intact the environmental integrity of the
instrument. The modification would imply an estimated reduction of
administrative costs for EU importers of more than EUR 1 billion. The
loss of revenue, on the other hand, would be proportionate to the
emissions for exempted imports, i.e. only around 1% or EUR 21 million
per year.
Rapporteur:
Sandra Gomez Lopez (S&D)
Shadows:
Danuse Nerudova (EPP)
Julien Sanchez (PfE)
(ECR)
Fabienne Keller (Renew)
Rasmus Andresen (Greens/EFA)
(The Left)
Alexander Jungbluth (ESN)
Deadline for tabling amendments:
07 April 2025 at 12.00
Adoption in BUDG:
23 April 2025
Plenary: May 2025
16 amendments were tabled to the draft budgetary assessment.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
2025 Budget: Section III – Commission
– DEC 4/2025 (EGF)
This is related to the mobilisation of the European Globalisation
Adjustment Fund for Displaced Workers (EGF) for the amount of EUR 7
999 015, to support 2 397 displaced workers of Van Hool, a coachbuilder
and manufacturer of buses, coaches and trolleybuses in Lier, Belgium.
The EGF mobilisation is also voted by the BUDG Committee today.
– No other transfer request
Rapporteur:
Victor Negrescu (S&D)
Shadows:
Andrzej Halicki (EPP)
Auke Zijlstra (PfE)
Bogdan Rzońca (ECR)
Fabienne Keller (Renew)
Rasmus Andresen
(Greens/EFA)
Nikolas Farantouris (The Left)
Alexander Jungbluth (ESN)
8|Page
BUDG NEWSLETTER – ISSUE 8 – 2025
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
2025 Budget: Other Sections
– No transfer request
Rapporteur:
Niclas Herbst (EPP)
Shadows:
Nils Ušakovs (S&D)
Auke Zijlstra (PfE)
Bogdan Rzońca (ECR)
Fabienne Keller (Renew)
Kai Tegethoff (Greens/EFA)
João Oliveira (The Left)
Alexander Jungbluth (ESN)
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Building Policy
– EC JRC Building project in Seville (prior approval)
– EP: Signature of a usufruct contract for the MONTERRA building prior approval
– No other building request
Rapporteur:
Olivier Chastel (Renew)
Shadows:
Monika Hohlmeier (EPP)
Nils Ušakovs (S&D)
Angeline Furet (PfE)
Ruggero Razza (ECR)
Ignazio Marino (Greens/EFA)
(The Left)
Alexander Jungbluth (ESN)
*** END OF VOTE ***
9|Page
BUDG NEWSLETTER – ISSUE 8 – 2025
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
ECA Special report 16/2024: EU revenue based on non‑recycled plastic packaging waste – A
challenging start hindered by data that is not sufficiently comparable or reliable
ECA Member Mr Lefteris Christoforou will present the Special Report 16/2024 on the EU’s newest own
resource based on non-recycled plastic packaging waste generated by Member States.
In 2023, the budgetary revenue based on non-recycled plastic packaging waste amounted to €7.2 billion,
4.0 % of the EU’s total revenue. The ECA assessed the introduction of this new own resource and concluded
that the Member States were not sufficiently prepared, and data used was not sufficiently comparable and
reliable. Even though the Commission’s actions improved data quality, the Court assessed that they were
not timely.
The Court recommended that the Commission apply the lessons learnt from the introduction of this new
own resource, improve data comparability and reliability, and mitigate the risk that waste sent to recyclers is
not actually recycled. In their reply to the Court, the Commission stressed that they had put in place the
controls to mitigate potential risks existing at the level of the Member States and to ensure that they will not
impact the EU budget or the level of the Member States contributions. This process has started in September
2023 and will contribute to enhancing the quality of data used.
10 | P a g e
BUDG NEWSLETTER – ISSUE 8 – 2025
NEXT MEETINGS
19-20 May 2025 – BUDG meeting
eCommittee (for internal users)
Implementation figures
NEWS FROM THE BUDGETARY SUPPORT UNIT
Recent publications
Publications Catalogue 2019 – 2024
Study “Mapping the current structure and discovering the potential of ‘other revenue’”
Briefing “Statements related to the future MFF at the confirmation hearings of the Commissionersdesignate” – internal use
Study “Adapting the EU budget to make it fit for the purpose of future enlargements”
Study “Performance and mainstreaming framework for the EU budget”
At a Glance “Performance and mainstreaming framework for the EU budget” Other language
versions
Briefing “European Union gender budgeting – state of play 2024”
Study “Recent inflation developments and the EU budget” (Part 2)
Study “EU contingent financial liabilities”
At a Glance “EU contingent financial liabilities”
Briefing “Mainstreaming in the post-2027 MFF”
Briefing “Performance-based Programmes under the post-2027 MFF”
Briefing “European public goods and the 2028-2034 MFF”
Briefing “Revamping the EU’s budgetary flexibility”
Briefing “Management of debt liabilities in the EU budget under the post-2027 MFF”
Briefing “EU Enlargement and the post-2027 MFF”
Study “The history of the EU budget” (Update)
Other language versions
Briefing “The European Parliament and the CFSP Budget – The case of the Rapid Deployment
Capacity”
Study “Performance framework for the EU budget – Concepts and practices” (Part 1)
Study “Error rates compared: Methodologies underpinning the European Commission’s risk at
payment/closure and the European Court of Auditors’ estimated level of error”
Briefing “Nominations for Members of the European Court of Auditors: Romania”
Briefing “Research for REGI, CONT and BUDG Committees Cohesion Policy Calendar (2021-2027
and 2014-2020 Programming Periods)”
Briefing “The Financial Transparency System – How to improve its functioning and reliability”
Study “Lessons learned from the implementation of crisis response tools at EU level” (Part 2)
At a Glance “Nomination for a Member of the European Court of Auditors: Bulgaria”
Study “EU anti-fraud architecture – the role of EU-level players, how they cooperate and the
challenges they face”
At a Glance “EU anti-fraud architecture – the role of EU-level players, how they cooperate and the
challenges they face” Executive summary in other language versions
Briefing “Cohesion Policy Calendar (2021-2027 and 2014-2020 Programming Periods)” July 2024
update
Briefing “Analysis of the 100 largest recipients of RRF funds per Member State”
Briefing “EU assistance to Ukraine and scrutiny of the EU financing provided”
Study “Lessons learned from the implementation of crisis response tools at EU level” (Part 1)
11 | P a g e
BUDG NEWSLETTER – ISSUE 8 – 2025
Study “The future of digitalisation of budgetary control”
At a Glance “Nomination for a Member of the European Court of Auditors: Italy”
Workshop Proceedings “Preventing EU funds from reaching sanctioned individuals or entities”
Study “Due Diligence in EU Institutions’ Own-Account Procurement: Rules and Practices”
Forthcoming publications
At a Glance “Adapting the EU budget to make it fit for the purpose of future enlargements”
Study “Performance-based instruments: How could their design be improved
Study “Parliamentary budgetary control: an international overview”
Study “Accountability mechanisms of institutions not under discharge procedure: the EIB”
Study “Performance-based instruments – Better design in view of parliamentary scrutiny”
Forthcoming events
Workshop “Own resources” 20 May
Workshop “EU anti-fraud architecture – the role of EU-level players, how they cooperate and the
challenges they face” TBC
Workshop “The implementation of the gender mainstreaming methodology in the EU budget” 25
12 | P a g e
BUDG NEWSLETTER – ISSUE 8 – 2025
DISCLAIMER
The items contained herein are drafted by the BUDG secretariat of the European Parliament and are provided
for general information purposes only. The opinions expressed in this document are the sole responsibility
of the author(s) and do not necessary represent the official position of the European Parliament. This
document may contain links to websites that are created and maintained by other organisations. The
Secretariat does not necessarily endorse the view(s) expressed on these websites.
Images used are under the license from Adobe Stock.
Contacts
Committee on Budgets
Head of Secretariat: Elisa Daffarra
Budgetary Support Unit
 BUDG Committee Webpage
 Policy Department Webpage
13 | P a g e