The Socialists and Democrats today voiced concerns on the proposal made by the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, on the Recovery Plan and the long term EU budget.
S&D Group president Iratxe García stated:
“The proposal by Charles Michel is disappointing and unbalanced. I understand the need to be flexible in order to find a compromise, but such a compromise must match the general expectations of the European people and institutions. As challenges increase, the budget to tackle them must increase as well. This proposal fails to do so. An extraordinary budget, whose aim is to help Europe recover, cannot be used to finance regular EU programmes. With every updated proposal, president Michel insists on sacrificing the long-term needs of the EU over the short-term. After having received the very worrying updated economic forecast from the European Commission this week, it is imperative that we focus our efforts on cohesion in the upcoming years.
“I’m afraid that Charles Michel drifts apart from the original Commission’s proposal, from the big majority of governments, and definitely from the European Parliament’s position.
“I’m glad to see the intention to include a rule of law mechanism, because it is a priority for my group, but the details have to be negotiated with the European Parliament under co-decision.
“No European leader should be allowed to break or undermine the fundamental principles of democracy and the rule of law without consequences. For the S&D Group, a strong rule of law mechanism is therefore not only a priority, but a sine qua non condition for the good development of the coming negotiations.”
