Where: European Parliament in Strasbourg, room WIC 200, and via webstreaming
When: Monday 19 January 2026, 19:30 – 22:30
What: Joint meeting of the budget (BUDG), regional development (REGI) and agriculture and rural development (AGRI) committees
MEPs are set to discuss proposals for combining regional, agricultural and other funds into national “envelopes” (so-called national and regional partnership plans) with Commission Executive Vice-President Raffaele Fitto (Cohesion and Reforms), and Commissioners Piotr Serafin (Budget) and Christophe Hansen (Agriculture).
The proposal, tabled by the Commission on 16 July 2025 as part of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2028-2034, is the joint responsibility of the budget, agriculture and regional development committees. The rapporteurs, in charge of leading EP work on the proposal, are Karlo Ressler (EPP, Croatia – BUDG), Andrey Novakov (EPP, Bulgaria – REGI) and Elsi Katainen (Renew, Finland – AGRI).
Background
In a plenary debate on 12 November 2025, MEPs presented their views on the MFF proposals. They believe that regions and local authorities should have a strong say in how funding is designed and spent. Also, Parliament should maintain oversight over spending to ensure the money provides “European added value”. At the same time, MEPs emphasise that rural areas and the regions most in need must not lose their dedicated funding under the new model.
In parallel to its work on the sectoral proposals, Parliament is also preparing an interim report on the multiannual budget negotiations, expected to adopted during the 25-29 May 2026 plenary session.
Discussion about this post