Péter Benő Banai cautioned that excessive spending could lead to increased costs for European citizens.Continue reading
After intense negotiations, an agreement was reached with the European Parliament on the EU budget for 2025, that includes EUR 199.4 billion in commitments and EUR 155.2 billion in payments, ahead of the final deadline, announced Péter Benő Banai, Secretary of State for Public Finance of the Ministry of Finance, in Brussels.
Representing the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU at a press conference following the Economic and Financial Affairs Council’s (ECOFIN) budget debate, the Secretary of State said that the agreement provides solutions to very important problems and challenges, thus ensuring the financing of programs to boost the EU’s competitiveness.
The agreement will also make it possible to finance the recovery from the devastating floods in Central and Eastern Europe and Spain, while maintaining the principle of budgetary prudence, meaning that next year the EU budget will have flexibility,”
he added.
Signed this morning around 3 am: the #EUBudget for 2025! A memorable experience and a significant achievement for @HU24EU. pic.twitter.com/Z6dobZe3RK
— Ódor Bálint (@odor_balint) November 16, 2024
He stressed that the council’s position was adopted by a unanimous vote, with the support of all 27 Member States. “I felt it was important to reach a compromise that would provide solutions to the challenges we face, such as flood damage or cyber security, while not overburdening European taxpayers,” he said.
He said that there was money available to fund programs that were important for Europe’s competitiveness as a whole and to support economic growth. In this context, he mentioned cohesion funding used to finance investments in Hungary and in many other European countries. These have increased by around EUR 3 billion.
The Secretary of State added that the Hungarian presidency had stood up for budgetary discipline on the basis of a clear mandate from the Member States.
If the EU budget is too big, individual Member States and European taxpayers have to pay more. This is why it is important to know what the European Union will provide in 2025, for what purposes and how much overall,”
he stressed.
Early morning, after 18 hours of intense negotiations, we reached an agreement on the EU budget for 2025. Speaking on behalf of the Hungarian presidency, @EUCouncil negotiator Péter Banai highlighted the significant commitment and spirit of compromise demonstrated by all sides,… pic.twitter.com/jUZspS1M6t
— Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU 2024 (@HU24EU) November 16, 2024
The EU budget for 2025, he said, would allow, for instance, for the funding of programs launched in Hungary.
Next year, the European Commission could transfer some HUF 2,700 billion (EUR 6.6 billion) to programs that the European Parliament has approved and the specific details of which have been defined by the Hungarian government,
he explained.
Niclas Herbst, chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control, noted that there had been intensive negotiations on the budget, in which the State Secretary had “proved to be a tough negotiator,” but an agreement had been reached.
Via MTI, Featured image: MTI/Bodnár Boglárka