MFF: firmness of European Parliament has paid off. Joseph Daul MEP

The Chairman of the EPP Group in the European Parliament today welcomed the agreement reached between the European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission on the European Union budgetary framework for the next seven years.

"The European Parliament's firmness has paid off. After extremely difficult negotiations, we have finally reached a very reasonable agreement which will make it possible to finance European Union programmes and policies for the future," said Joseph Daul.

"In times of economic difficulties, we have shown responsibility in accepting to limit the budget’s total amount so as not to weigh even more on the Member States' drained budgets.

But we have refused to sentence the European Union, and the next European Parliament, to seven years of rigour. We have obtained guarantees to ensure the European Union has the means to live up to its ambitions and continue to finance policies for the future.

The European Parliament also obtained an additional billion for the Fund for European Aid to the most deprived, as well as additional credit for the ERASMUS programme, for SMEs and for research for next year,” the Chairman of the EPP Group underlined.

“Flexibility between years will enable us to best channel the limited resources of the Union. A revised budget will be put on the table as of 2016 to take into account an improved economic situation in the Union,” he added.

“This agreement paves the way for a reform of the financing of the budget so that it no longer depends on the goodwill of the Member States in the future,” Joseph Daul said.

“Finally, this agreement was only possible thanks to the efforts of the two main political groups of the European Parliament, the EPP and the S&D Groups,” Joseph Daul underlined following the discussion at the meeting of the EP Conference of Presidents on Thursday 27 June.