What changed

MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION

– having regard to Article 106a of the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community,

– having regard to Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union, whereby gender equality is a core value of the Union,

– having regard to Article 8 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, whereby ‘in all its activities, the Union shall aim to eliminate inequalities and to promote equality’; whereas this applies including to all levels of the budgetary process,

– having regard to Council Decision (EU, Euratom) 2020/2053 of 14 December 2020 on the system of own resources of the European Union and repealing Decision 2014/335/EU, Euratom,

– having regard to its resolution of 15 December 2022 on upscaling the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework: a resilient EU budget fit for new challenges,

– having regard to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 16 December 2020 between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission on budgetary discipline, on cooperation in budgetary matters and on sound financial management, as well as on new own resources, including a roadmap towards the introduction of new own resources,resources (IIA),

– having regard to the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2025 and the joint statements agreed between Parliament, the Council and the Commission annexed hereto,

✦ Formal Adds a reference to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

– having regard to Article 349 TFEU and to Regulation (EU) No 228/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2013 establishing specific measures for agriculture in favour of the outermost regions of the Union,

– having regard to the Interinstitutional Proclamation on the European Pillar of Social Rights of 13 December 2017 and to its resolution of 19 January 2017 thereon,

– having regard to Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 establishing the framework for achieving climate neutrality and amending Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 (European Climate Law),

– having regards to the UN Sustainable Development Goals,

– having regard to Enrico Letta’s report entitled ‘Much more than a market’, presented in the European Parliament on 21 October 2024,

– having regard to the joint white paper of 19 March 2025 for European Defence Readiness providing a framework for the ReArm Europe plan (JOIN(2025)0120),

– having regard to Protocol No 6 on the location of the seats of the institutions annexed to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

– having regard to the 2012 Joint Statement and ‘Common Approach’ on EU Decentralised Agencies,

– having regard to the draft general budget of the European Union for the 2026 financial year, which the Commission published on 9 July 2025 (COM(2025)0300),

– having regard to the letters from the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Committee on Security and Defence, Committee on Budgetary Control, Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, Committee on Transport and Tourism, Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality,

– having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets (A100000/2025),(A10-0192/2025),

Section III – European Commission - Budget 2026: building a resilient, sustainable and prosperous future for Europe

✦ Wording Adds 'very tight' before 'budgetary constraints' and rephrases the end to 'Europe and its people'.

1. Recalls that, in its resolution of 2 April 2025 on general guidelines for the preparation of the 2026 budget, Parliament set clear political priorities for the 2026 budget; reaffirms its strong commitment to those priorities and sets out the following position to ensure an appropriate level of financing to deliver on them within the current very tight budgetary constraints; believes that the Union must be equipped with all possible budgetary means to deliver on Union priorities and to foster a prosperous future for Europe;Europe and its people;

✦ Expands the list of challenges to include costs and effects of climate change, biodiversity crisis, and economic and social challenges, and adds emphasis on results-oriented and sustainable budget.

2. Stresses that, in times of uncertainties stemming from geopolitical instability and heightened security threats as well as the rise in global protectionism and the worsening costs and effects of climate change,change and biodiversity crisis as well as well as economic and social challenges threatening European people and societies, a reliable, results- and investment-oriented as well as sustainable Union budget remains instrumental for the implementation of the Union’s policies, including cohesion, to provide the people in the UnionUnion, who are facing increasingly high costs of living, with a robust ecosystem and to deliver on their priorities; including by exploiting to the fullest possible extent the prevention as well as the crisis response capacity of the Union budget; emphasises that the Union budget must maintain an adequate level of ambition for the prosecution of Union’s policy priorities and to leverage private investment,

✦ Wording Adds 'as well as worldwide' and changes 'new hybrid' to 'including hybrid'.

3. Emphasises that Russia’s illegal and unjustifiable war of aggression against Ukraine has brought further substantial economic and social consequences for people across Europe, as well as worldwide, especially the most vulnerable, and in particular frontline countries and in Ukraine; recalls its unwavering support for the people in Ukraine and underlines the crucial role of common investment to maintaining a comprehensive and resolute response from the Union against unprecedented geopolitical challenges and newincluding hybrid security threats;

✦ Restructures the sentence about MFF revision, adds 'ever worsening humanitarian crises', and changes 'regrets' to 'deplores' twice.

4. Underlines that while the MFF revision represented a clear improvement compared to the initial situation, the MFF was not established to address a pandemic, a war, high inflation, high energy prices, food insecurity,insecurity and ever worsening humanitarian crises;crises, and that while the MFF revision represented an improvement compared to the initial situation, it failed to address all the issues identified at the time of the mid-term revision; deplores that the Union budget is still under pressure, with limited margins and flexibility, and without sufficient ambition for current priorities and also in important future-oriented policy areas; regrets,deplores, that, despite the MFF revision, overall ceilings and margins are stillremain very low in the Financial Programming and the 2026 draft budget (DB), standing at zero in two headings (sub-heading 2b and Headingheading 7) and close to zero in two other headings (sub-heading 2a and Headingheading 5);

✦ Adds that the budget has insufficient resources to address current challenges and emphasizes parliamentary scrutiny.

5. Considers that the Union budget, on account of its size, structure and rules, has a very limited capacity to respond appropriately in 2026 to the challenges facing the Union and has insufficient resources to adequately address the current economic, social, climate and environmental as well security challenges or to adequately finance and implement today’s priorities; recalls its long-standing position that new policy priorities or tasks should be accompanied by fresh money and that Union institutions and bodies, must be properly staffed and adequately resourced to fulfil their mandate and additional tasks; emphasises that all spending through the Union budget must be subject to parliamentary scrutiny;

✦ Replaces paragraph 6 with three new paragraphs: one on rule of law conditionality, one on Council cuts (moved from old 6), and one on climate and biodiversity targets.

6. Deplores that the Council, in its position which it calls “prudent”, proposes to cut commitment appropriations by EUR 1,3 billion across the MFF headings; stresses that, by applying such largely unjustified cuts across headings on programme lines to generate additional unallocated margins, the Council’s reading sticks to an approach that is not fit for purpose in times of crisis; underlines that this approach is not based in the reality of current budgetary needs, as these margins are not intended for use in the annual budget 2026; strongly opposes the Council cuts targeting programmes that benefit from the adjustment provided for in Article 5 of the MFF Regulation for “rebalancing and stabilisation”, since that would contradict the objective of that MFF provision, which was to strengthen specific political priorities; considers in addition that many of the budgetary cuts from important programmes such as Erasmus+ are made with the sole intention of repaying the NGEU interest costs cutting precisely from funding for the next generation that is supposed to benefit the most from such programmes;

6. Recalls the binding nature of Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union and of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2092 on the protection of the Union budget; reiterates that the allocation and implementation of Union funds under all programmes and budgetary headings shall take place only in full respect of democratic principles, transparency and fundamental rights; stresses in particular that Member States and beneficiaries must have effective mechanisms in place to prevent, detect and remedy conflicts of interest at all levels of management, control and decision-making relating to Union funds and that the Union budget must be protected from any forms of conflict of interest;

7. Deplores that the Council, in its position which it calls “prudent”, proposes to cut commitment appropriations by EUR 1,3 billion across the MFF headings; stresses that, by applying such largely unjustified cuts across headings on programme lines to generate additional unallocated margins, the Council’s reading sticks to an approach that is not fit for purpose in times of crisis and very volatile political, economic and international environment; underlines that this approach is not based in the reality of current budgetary needs; strongly opposes the Council cuts targeting programmes that benefit from the adjustment provided for in Article 5 of the MFF Regulation for “rebalancing and stabilisation”, since that would contradict the objective of that MFF provision, which was to strengthen specific political priorities; considers in addition that many of the budgetary cuts from important programmes such as Erasmus+ are made with the sole intention of repaying the NGEU interest costs cutting precisely from funding for the next generation of Europeans that is supposed to benefit the most from such programmes and which goes against the objectives of the EURI cascade mechanism to not cutting programmes;

8. Underscores that the 2026 budget must be aligned with the Union’s objectives and international commitments; stresses the need for continuous work to achieve the climate and biodiversity mainstreaming targets for Union budget spending laid down in the IIA, as part of the broader process of making the Union climate-neutral by 2050 at the latest; recalls the target for biodiversity spending of 10 % for the years 2026 and 2027 and the target for climate spending of 30 %; regrets that the biodiversity target will not be met in 2026; stresses, furthermore, that the Union budget should be implemented in line with Article 33(2) of the Financial Regulation, therefore without doing significant harm to the environmental objectives, where feasible and appropriate in accordance with the relevant sector-specific rules; recalls that all Union programmes, policies and activities should be implemented in a way that promotes gender equality in the delivery of their objectives; notes, in this regard, the Commission’s work, in accordance with the IIA, to track gender equality-related spending, in particular through an ex-post gender impact assessment and reporting on volumes;

9. Welcomes the Commission's new efforts to present more options for new sources of revenue for the Union budget; in this respect, takes note of the Commission’s proposal for a Council Decision on the System of Own Resources of the European Union of 16 July 2025; stresses that new genuine own resources are essential not only to enable repayment of NGEU borrowing, but to ensure that the Union is equipped to cover its higher spending needs; calls on the Council to speed up its work on the new own resources;

10. Recalls that the decentralised agencies play an important role in the implementation of the Union’s current priorities; emphasises that the agencies’ resources, including both budgetary and human resources must sufficiently reflect the tasks obligated upon the agencies in their basic acts, and in the extensions of their mandates;

Special instruments and cascade mechanism

✦ Wording Renumbers paragraph and changes 'Headings' to 'headings', 'resources' to 'margins', 'are becoming' to 'have become', 'scarce' to 'tight'.

7.11. Notes that the 2026 budget will be the second full annual budgetary procedure under the revised MFF ceilings and rules; reminds that a certain level of redeployments, in particular under Headingsheadings 1 and 6 was part of the MFF revision package; stresses its firm position to not see such reductions repeated or made worse in the annual procedure especially as resourcesmargins arehave becomingbecome extremely scarcetight in the last years of implementation of the current MFF;

✦ Wording Renumbers paragraph and changes 'Heading' to 'heading'.

8.12. Notes, further, that the initial 2026 availabilities for the Single Margin Instrument for commitments (Article 11(1)(a) of the MFF Regulation) stand at EUR 748,2 million and that the Commission proposes to exhaust the SMI compartment (a) for Headingheading 7 - European Public Administration; is concerned that as a result, a total amount of only EUR 132,5 million remains available for unforeseen expenditure in 2026, all of which under the Flexibility Instrument (assuming that no amount would still be mobilised in the course of 2025);

✦ Updates figures for EURI costs: from approximately EUR 4.3 billion to EUR 4.225 billion, and changes the description of the cascade mechanism.

9.13. Underlines, once again, that repayment of the EURI borrowing costs is a legal obligation for the Union and a non-discretionary expenditure item in the Union budget; takes note with concern that the NGEU overrun costs, i.e. the needs for the EURI refinancing costs which have not yet been programmed,programmed from the outset, amount to approximately EUR 4,34,225 billion,billion for 2026, twice the Commission’s forecast, whileas specified in the Amending Letter 1/2026(AL) will1/2026; updatenotes that the needsCommission, estimationin forits 2026;DB notesand thatin AL 1/2026, following the Commission,outcome inof itsthe DB,conciliation 2025 applies a 50:50 approach to the cascade mechanism, covering an amount of EUR 2,12,113 billion from the budget - i.e. 50 % of the cost overruns - stemming from the unallocated margin under sub-heading 2b for an amount of EUR 73 million and by the Flexibility Instrument for an amount of EUR 2 065040 million, with the remaining half to be mobilised through the EURI instrument over and above the ceiling, covered by decommitments made since 2021;

✦ Expands paragraph to reiterate position on EURI, adds criticism of Council's approach, and specifies affected programmes.

10.14. DisagreesReiterates its position that before having recourse to the EURI special instrument, the budgetary authority is expected to examine the possibility for covering part of any shortfall within the headings and through the Flexibility and Single Margin Instruments; emphasises that this process must be objective and based on real needs and cannot be driven by any arbitrary benchmarks; intends, therefore, to ensure that all programmes are properly resourced and that the budget’s flexibility and response capacity is maintained throughout the annual budgetary procedure; strongly disagrees therefore with the Council’s approach to opt for what it calls “prudent” budgeting, creating artificial margins under the MFF ceilings;ceilings at the expense of the implementation of previously agreed Union’s priorities; regrets that the Council, in its position on the 2026 budget, and similar to previous years, reduces appropriations dedicated for EURI borrowing costs;costs without due justification; alerts that in order to create additional unallocated margins (mostly in sub-heading 2b but also in other headings, presumably in view of using it in future years through the SMI), sizeable reductions to a number of flagship programme envelopes have been proposed that have repercussions in 2026 as well as in 2027; stresses that the cuts in sub-heading 2b are particularly disconcerting as the only motivation is to use the money for financing EURI to the detriment of the people-centred nature of the programmes anchored in the same heading as EURI; recalls that the most affected programmes, Horizon Europe, CEFConnecting digitalEurope Facility (CEF) Digital and Erasmus, are well-established shared priorities for the European Parliament and the Council and flagship programmes of the Union; deplores furthermore that the Council targets for reductions are across several headings and even touch some programmes that were already subject to the MFF revision redeployments, such as Horizon, or lines that were topped up in previous years, such as Erasmus+, EU4Health or LIFE;

✦ Wording Changes 'Interinstitutional Agreement' to 'joint statement to the IIA'.

11.15. Recalls the Interinstitutionaljoint Agreementstatement to the IIA adopted as part of the 2020 MFF agreement, whereby expenditure to cover NGEU financing costs “shall aim at not reducing programmes and funds”; restores, therefore, all the cuts proposed by Council to ensure that programmes are properly resourced and that the budget’s flexibility and response capacity are maintained throughout the annual budgetary procedure; insists on the need for the Commission to provide reliable, timely and accurate information on NGEU borrowing costs and on expected Recovery and Resilience Facility disbursements throughout the budgetary procedure;

✦ Changes 'alarmed' to 'concerned', adds details on liquidity management costs, and requests a separate budget line.

12.16. Is alarmedconcerned by the fact that part of the EURI financing needs in 2026 is in fact due to the liquidity management cost of 2025; further notes that, for the first time, liquidity management costs have increased significantly due to delays inand unpredictability of payment requests as some member states are slowing down the implementation of theirthe recovery and resilience plans;plans is slowing down in some Member States; underlines that the liquidity management costs are an additional burden in a context of extremely scarce resources; deploresstresses that the currently estimated liquidity management cost of EUR 300 million for 2026 would consume approximately half of the overall availabilities (including margins and special instruments) of the DB;DB without assurances that this is the most efficient and prudent way to manage the unpredictability of payment needs for the RRF; requests in this context that the liquidity management cost is isolated in a separate new budget line for transparency purposes; is of the strong opinionconsiders that this cost was never intended by the co-legislator to be included in the amounts subject to the 50 % benchmark within the cascade mechanism agreed during the MFF revision;revision and further clarified in the 2025 conciliation; argues therefore that it should be financed solely from the decommitment compartment of the EURI instrument;

Heading 1 - Single market, Innovation and Digital

✦ Wording Changes 'Heading' to 'heading', 'key' to 'crucial', and rephrases the role of heading 1.

13.17. Recalls that programmes under Headingheading 1 play a keycrucial role in supporting research and innovation,innovation increasingin key sectors, including health, energy and climate, enhancing the Union’s competitiveness, driving sustainable growth, economic development and quality job creation with an emphasis on SMEs, boosting funding for cross-border infrastructure, in particular in the transportsustainable andtransport, energy and digital sectors, thus contributing significantly to the green and digital transitions;

✦ Adds specific research areas to Horizon Europe reinforcement and changes the focus of the Mobility cluster.

14.18. Highlights the vital role that Horizon Europe plays in this context; recalls that the programme remains heavily over-subscribed and is therefore unable to support a large number of research projects evaluated as ‘excellent’; proposes, therefore, to increase allocations for the programme by a total of EUR 60 million compared to the DB, with reinforcements for the Cluster ‘Health’ to boost R&D, including research in areas such as cardiovascular diseases, lifestyles focusing on primary and secondary prevention as key objectives to increase life expectancy in the Union, cancer, antimicrobial resistance, non-communicable and rare diseases, palliative care, mitigating health risks, and mental health, as well as for the Cluster ‘Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society’ and the Cluster ‘Climate, Energy, Mobility’;Mobility’, with special attention and support to research projects in the area of decarbonisation in Europe;

✦ Expands CEF Energy objectives and adds EUR 50 million increase above DB.

15.19. Calls on increasing the CEF Energy investments for an improved functioning and a deeper integration of energy markets, through modernisation of cross-border infrastructure, enhanced transmission andvia distribution grids and interconnections, better integration ofand larger investments in renewables and energy efficiency, including to reduce high electricity prices broadening of clean energy supply, while significantly reducing UnionUnion’s dependence on fossil fuelsfuels, enhancing security of supply, mitigating price volatility and improving energy efficiency;security and enabling the Union to achieve its decarbonisation objectives for 2030 and 2050; proposes, in this regard, to increase appropriations for CEF Energy by EUR 50 million above the DB; believes that these measures will contribute to the Union’s objectives lowering energy costs to households and companies in Europe and to achieve the fair transition;

✦ Expands CEF Transport paragraph with additional investment needs and increases appropriations by EUR 30 million.

16.20. Recalls that the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF)CEF is key for the Union’s overall security and for boosting investment in high-performance sustainable trans-European networks, and thereby promoting interconnectivity as well as for supporting the completion of TEN-T; inhighlights thisthat sense,CEF Transport remains largely oversubscribed and calls for additional investments to support research, development of cutting-edge technologies and innovation in transport infrastructure and digital connectivity ; stresses that additional investment is needed to ensure a fully operational TEN-T network, support research, innovation and cutting-edge technologies in transport infrastructure, includingdeploy byalternative stimulatingfuels and digital connectivity, strengthen the deploymentUnion’s solidarity lanes with Ukraine in border regions, and enhance the resilience of alternativecritical fuelsinfrastructure, competitiveness and cohesion, also taking into account the need for investment into climate and environmentally friendly cross-border transport infrastructure such as rail projects and improvingimprovement digitaland connectivityinvestment ;in clean mobility; proposes, therefore, to increase appropriations for CEF Transport by EUR 30 million above the DB;

✦ Adds opposition to Council cuts and calls for reinforcement for SMEs, with EUR 4 million increase.

17.21. Stresses that a well-functioning Single Market is critical for the Union’s competitiveness and for enhancing access to markets for Union businesses, especially SMEs and young entrepreneurs; notesemphasises thatthe SMEsimportance inof particularsupporting areSMEs as the backbonemain drivers of the European economy ; opposes Council's cuts and calls on a budgetary reinforcement to further support European SMEs, start-ups and young entrepreneurs in their competitiveness, resilience and their access to market, in line with the objectives of the EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy, announced by the Commission; proposes an increase of EUR 4 million above the DB for the SME strand of the Single Market programme, to enhance technological advancement, competitiveness and economic resilience;

✦ Replaces old paragraph 18 with three new paragraphs: on digital skills, BEREC reinforcement, and ECCC staffing, and updates the total reinforcement figures.

18. Reinforces Heading 1 by EUR 144 024 914 in commitment appropriations above the DB (excluding pilot projects and preparatory actions) and by EUR 632 272 317 compared to the Council reading;

22. Reiterates the substantial investment needs in forward-looking digital infrastructure, underpinned by well-regulated, human-centred and trustworthy artificial intelligence and cybersecurity; stresses in this context the need to improve digital skills to match the needs of companies and to equip citizens to counter disinformation; proposes therefore an increase of EUR 4 million to the Skills strand of the Digital Europe Programme;

23. Recalls the important role played by the decentralised agencies under heading 1, including the Agency for the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC), whose work is relevant for safeguarding the Union’s digital and communications networks; decides to reinforce BEREC by EUR 0,67 million above the DB to support the agency and strengthen the Union’s broader institutional resilience at a moment when this is increasingly tested;

24. Proposes to provide the necessary human resources to the European Cybersecurity Competence Centre (ECCC), key in countering the growing hybrid threats posed by the Russian Federation, to ensure it can fully deliver on its mandate in the evolving geopolitical context in light of the fact that adequate staffing is essential to ensure its critical functions are effectively carried out;

25. Reinforces heading 1 by EUR 148 696 914 in commitment appropriations above the DB (excluding pilot projects and preparatory actions) and by EUR 636 944 317 compared to the Council reading;

Sub-heading 2a - Economic, social and territorial cohesion

✦ Adds mention of mountainous, insular regions and recognizes mid-term review flexibility.

19.26. Underlines the keyimportant role cohesion policy plays in delivering on Union policy priorities, improving peoples’ quality of life and boosting the Union economy by contributing to fair and sustainable growth and development, promoting economic and social convergence between countries and regions, notably mountainous, insular and outermost regions, supporting the green and digital transitions, fostering investments, innovation and employment and addressing regionalregional, economic and social disparities and inequalities; recognises that the mid-term review of cohesion brought increased flexibility; reiterates nevertheless that cohesion policy is not a crisis response tool and, therefore, should not be called on to make up for shortcomings of funding in other policies and priorities, in budgetary flexibility or crisis response mechanisms to the detriment of its long-term policy objectives; calls on the Commission and all Member States to maintain the cruising speed of implementation of cohesion policy, in parallel to the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility;

✦ Adds call to protect final beneficiaries in rule of law cases.

20.27. Welcomes the recent acceleration in the execution of operational programmes in the Member States and regions and calls on Member States to continue to provide the necessary administrative capacity at all levels of governance; insists on the importance of ensuring funds accessibility to achieve absorption; calls on the Commission to do its utmost to protect the legitimate interests of final beneficiaries and to ensure that final beneficiaries can continue to benefit from Union funding in cases of breaching the rule of law by national governments, without weakening the application of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2092 and while maintaining the Member States’ payment obligation under the Union law;

28. Accepts the Council position with respect to sub-heading 2a;

29. Underlines that the expenditure programmes under sub-heading 2b have to share the already tight resources and margins with the EURI budget line which covers the NGEU interest costs, and that this has de facto prevented the Commission from proposing reinforcements where they are needed; is determined to cover these interest costs in a reliable and transparent manner while safeguarding programme allocations in this sub-heading;

✦ Expands paragraph on natural disasters and increases funding for Union Civil Protection Mechanism by EUR 30 million.

23.30. Is alarmed by the ever-growing impact of natural disasters;disasters often linked to worsening climate change and are thus likely to occur with even greater frequency; underlines that in light of the increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather events and natural disasters, effective Union coordinationcoordination, preventive measures and robust disaster response capacities across Member States are all the more required; stresses that the RescEU mechanism has so far proven to be an instrumental and successful Union instrument in responding to crisis situations; notes that the Union action in this context responds to high citizens’ expectations; emphasises the need to significantly increase the funding of the Union's capacities to ensure effective disaster prevention, preparedness and rapid response capabilities and coordination and cross-border preparedness; highlights that investing in prevention and early detection protects lives and is more efficient than responding to crises; decides therefore to increase funding for the Union Civil Protection Mechanism by EUR 30 million;

✦ Expands EU4Health paragraph with additional health priorities and increases appropriations by EUR 5 million.

24.31. Underlines the importance of a stronger Health Union and enhanced protection, prevention, preparedness and response against human health hazards; highlights the vital role that the EU4Health programme plays in this respect, as well as in supporting actions that enhance the availability, accessibility and affordability of medicinal products, medical devicesdevices, crisis-relevant products and crisis-relevanthospital products;infrastructures, as well as supporting Member States’ actions to promote access to sexual and reproductive health, rights and services, especially considering the backlash against women’s rights in several Member States; underlines that the Union’s public health needs are steadily progressingincreasing in light of the increased demographic pressure; highlights the programme's crucial role in strengthening health resilience and preparedness for future health crises, recalls the importance of reinforcing the cross-border healthcare cooperation; proposes to increase the programme’s appropriations by EUR 5 million above the DB to support investments with a focus on cardiovascular diseases, by focusing on primary and secondary prevention as key objectives to increase life expectancy in the Union, cancer, rare diseasesdiseases, andpaediatric diseases, mental health;health, including youth mental health, and the issue of antimicrobial resistance;

✦ Adds rejection of Council cuts and increases Erasmus+ by EUR 5 million.

25.32. Reiterates its unwavering support for promoting the learning mobility of young people and researchers; proposes to reinforce, against this background, the Union flagship programme Erasmus+, which consistently contributes to the priorities of long-term competitiveness, employabilityemployability, knowledge, innovation and resilience, directly benefitting citizens, including learners and young people and engaging them in Europe's democratic life; emphasises that the programme is required by law to put in place measures to make grants schemes fairer and more accessible and boost participation rates among people with fewer opportunities and from disadvantaged backgrounds across the entire continent also in the context of high costs of living and inflationary context and calls for a readjustment of Erasmus+ grants to account for higher inflation and higher living costs; proposes, therefore, an increase of EUR 5 million for Erasmus+, specifically to ensure that the programme is accessible to all; rejects the proposed budget cuts of EUR 257 million by the Council as reckless and unjustified;

✦ Rewrites paragraph to call on Commission to ensure Hungarian government respects obligations, and adds alternative solution for students.

26.33. Highlights,Calls inon addition,the Commission to take the necessary measures to ensure that the appropriationsHungarian undergovernment Erasmusrespects +its shouldobligation alsotowards befinal intendedrecipients, toin coverline with the costsConditionality incurredregulation; byhighlights, in addition, that in the Commissionface forof anpersistent alternativenon-compliance solutionby benefittingthe Hungarian students,government inwith linethis withobligation, the requirementappropriations includedunder inErasmus the+ conditionalityshould regulationalso tobe properlyused safeguardby the legitimateCommission interestsfor ofan finalalternative recipientssolution andbenefitting beneficiaries;Hungarian students; underlines that any alternative solution shall be implemented without prejudiceweakening tothe application of the implementing decision underof the15 conditionalityDecember regulation2022 ofunder DecemberRegulation 2022,(EU, Euratom) 2020/2092, which is a consistent and lawful application of that regulation;Regulation;

✦ Adds mention of Creative Europe oversubscription and increases financing by EUR 2.5 million.

27.34. Underscores the continued socio-economic challenges in the cultural and creative sectors, which are often made up of small organisations and individual artists, and the key role of these sectors in combatting disinformationdisinformation, threats to democracy, enhancing media literacy and promoting and protecting media freedom and pluralism as the basis for a functioning democracy; highlights that Creative Europe is one of the key programmes dedicated to the cultural and creative sectors, and has strong results and high oversubscription proposes to increase financing for the cross-sectoral strand of the Creative Europe programme by a total of EUR 2,5 million above the DB;

✦ Replaces old paragraphs 28 and 29 with four new paragraphs on CERV, disinformation, ESF+, and families.

28. Reiterates the major role of the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme in promoting European values; proposes, therefore, to increase appropriations for the programme by EUR 2,5 million above the DB;

35. Reiterates the indispensable role of the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme in promoting European values and citizens’ rights, in fostering active civic engagement, in building resilient societies, in raising awareness on disinformation, in combatting gender-based violence, notably violence against women, girls and the LGBTQI+ community and in supporting the key principles of democracy, the rule of law, solidarity, inclusiveness, justice, non-discrimination and equality; underlines that active and empowered civil society is key for democracy and the democratic life of our societies; proposes, therefore, to increase appropriations for the programme by EUR 2,5 million above the DB; in order to provide, inter alia, direct funding to civil society organisations working closest to the citizens at local, national and Union level, to protect and promote Union values and to counter democratic backsliding;

29. Recalls the need to support Employment and Innovation initiatives as well as the free movement of workers; proposes in this regard to reinforce the financing for the ESF+ under the Employment and Social Innovation strand by EUR 2,5 million and the financing for the information and training measures for workers’ organisations by EUR 1 million;

36. Highlights the growing threat posed by disinformation and foreign information manipulation to the Union’s democratic processes, stresses the need to support local media, strengthen fact checking, investigative journalism, quality content production and media literacy initiative in all Member States;

37. Recalls the need to reinforce the support to Employment and Innovation initiatives as well as initiatives supporting labour mobility and social justice, in pursuance of the objectives of the European Pillar of Social Rights; underlines, furthermore, the need for effective social dialogue and proper information and training for workers’ organisations; proposes in this regard to reinforce the financing for the ESF+ under the Employment and Social Innovation strand by EUR 2,5 million, including in order of support promotion of socio-economic inclusion of disadvantaged groups and the financing for the information and training measures for workers’ organisations by EUR 2 million;

38. Recalls that families, particularly those that include children or dependants in their care, are facing financing difficulties and bearing the burden of expenditure; stresses, that they must be the subject of special attention in the relevant aspects of the Union budget and of the European Pillar of Social Rights’ priorities;

39. Demands an increase of the support to the Turkish-Cypriot line by EUR 1 million above DB in order to finance the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus and support the bi-communal Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage;

✦ Adds EPPO to agencies reinforced and increases funding by EUR 3 million.

31.40. Recalls the important role played by the decentralised agencies under sub-heading 2b, including the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust) that has to deal with an increased casework and additional needs in digitalisation and global partnerships, stresses, in this regard, the central role that the EPPO plays in protecting the Union’s budget and financial interests, in ensuring compliance with the rule of law, which requires adequate levels of financial and human resources; as well as the European Institute for Gender Equality which plays a key role in achieving the equality objectives of the Union; therefore reinforces the Agencies’ funding by respectively EUR 6 million, EUR 3 million and EUR 1 million to ensure their sustainable operations;

✦ Wording Changes 'in itself' to 'in themselves' and fixes punctuation.

32.41. Considers that the activities of the EPPO do in itselfthemselves not only contribute to the protection of the Union’s financial interests, but also have the potential to recover amounts of the Union budget that were not used for its intended purpose due to criminal activities; considers that amounts resulting from seizing and confiscating measures adopted by the European Delegated Prosecutors in the Member States could, after deduction of costs incurred by the Member States’ authorities to implement these measures, flow back into the Union budget, in line with Article 38 of Regulation (EU) 2017/1939; proposes therefore to create a new revenue line for ‘Receipts of seizing and confiscating measures adopted by the EPPO’;EPPO;

✦ Updates reinforcement figures for sub-heading 2b from EUR 56.5 million to EUR 60.5 million and from EUR 831 million to EUR 835 million.

33.42. Reinforces sub-heading 2b overall by EUR 5660 500 000 in commitment appropriations above the DB levels (excluding pilot projects and preparatory actions) and by EUR 831835 089 901 compared to the Council reading;

Heading 3 - Natural Resources and Environment

✦ Expands paragraph on agriculture with additional challenges and objectives.

34.43. Recalls that the agricultural programmes under Headingheading 3 play a key role in bolstering support for farmers, notably the younger generation, across the Union, in particular given the farmers' discontent, and given the critical role that agriculture plays in food security; underlines that farmers are facing important challenges such as geopolitical disruptions, trade disputes, extreme weather conditions, epizootic diseases, market volatility, ruralthe poverty,transition administrativeto burdenmore andsustainable increasedpractices, societalrural expectations;poverty, and administrative burdens; stresses the crucial role of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in this regard and recalls the objectives under Article 39 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which include increasing agricultural productivity by promoting technical progress, optimum utilisation of the factors of productions, ensuring a reasonable standard of living for farmers,farmers and farm workers, guaranteeing food security;security and assuring the availability of supplies and reasonable prices for consumers;

✦ Adds impact of extreme weather and increases support for young farmers by EUR 23 million.

35.44. Reiterates its concern about the negative impact of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine on global food security and affordability and input prices as well as inputthe prices;negative impact of extreme heath, droughts, forest fires and other extreme, climate change induced, weather patterns on the agricultural sector; emphasises the need to help newyoung farmers and youngnew farmersentrants as well as small and medium-sized farmers with additional means and thereby ensuring the sustainability of the sector and generational renewal; proposes, therefore, to increase complementary income support to young farmers by EUR 23 million above the DB;

✦ Adds call to reverse Council cuts and need for rural infrastructure investment.

36.45. Emphasises that farmers and rural communitiescommunities, including the younger generation are vital contributors to quality, healthy and nutritious food, such as fruits and vegetables, food security and that they play a key role in the preservation of rural areas and in countering the depopulation of the most remote areas; stresses the need to reverse Council’s cuts under the agricultural programmes, particularly in light of rising food prices and the growing challenges to food security; recalls that regional and local economies are dependent on tourism, agriculture, fisheries and forestry and are especially sensitive to climatic changes and stresses the need for additional Union investment in rural infrastructure, including roads, rail lines, digital connectivity, tourism and access to essential services such as healthcare and education;

✦ Wording Changes 'increase' to 'expand funding for farmers by increasing'.

37.46. Calls for maintaining a strong budget for the promotion of agricultural products as this programme is essential to increase awareness and recognition of Union quality schemes as well as the competitiveness of Union agricultural products; decides, therefore, to increaseexpand funding for farmers by increasing the allocation of this budget line under the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) by EUR 30 million above the DB;

47. Underscores that trade policy and agricultural policy must be designed in an integrated manner in order to respect fair competition and international trade commitments as well as Union’s global food security responsibilities and environmental and climate policy objectives; stresses in this regard that the framework agreement with the United States on transatlantic tariffs will increase pressure on European farmers notably in sensitive sectors such as the wine sector which is already facing significant challenges; therefore proposes to increase the allocation of the budget line dedicated to the wine sector under the EAGF by EUR 15 million above the DB;

✦ Expands fisheries paragraph with IUU fishing and POSEI budget concerns.

39.48. Recalls that fisheries, aquaculture and fishing products processing sectors are fundamental pillars of the economic, social and cultural fabric of Union coastal and island communities and outermost regions and that the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) is a fundamental funding programme for fishersfishers, andaquaculture forproducers, food security, the cohesion of coastal and island communitiescommunities, suchthe asmodernisation forof the renewalUnion’s fleet and the generational renewal; emphasises the importance of continuing the Union’s fleet;zero tolerance approach with strong actions against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, led by the example and work for achieving global sustainable fisheries, ensuring compliance by all countries of shared rules, promoting a level playing field, and promoting economically, environmentally and socially sustainable fisheries; highlights the importance of POSEI and success of its implementation; stresses, however, that the POSEI budget allocations have not been revised since 2013;

✦ Increases LIFE nature and biodiversity strand by EUR 15 million (from EUR 10 million) and adds notes on guidelines.

40.49. Underlines the important role that the LIFE programme plays in supporting climate adaptation and mitigation, in delivering on the European Green Deal and achieving the Union’s climate neutrality goal,commitment, in line with the Paris Agreement, by investing in nature and biodiversity, reducing emissions and increasing the use of renewable energy and creating a circular economy, protecting ecosystems and reversing the trend of biodiversity loss; emphasises in this context that the biodiversity budget line of the LIFE programme is oversubscribed and the Union’s biodiversity expenditure target of 10 % for 2026 is not expected to be met; emphasises likewise the role of the LIFE programme in accelerating the clean energy transition; proposes, therefore, to increase appropriations for the clean energy transition strand by EUR 15 million above the DB and for the nature and biodiversity strand by EUR 1015 million above the DB; notes the new guidelines by the Commission on grant agreements under the LIFE program and recalls, in line with Article 11 TEU, that an active dialogue with civil society is vital for fostering an active civic space, ensuring accountability and transparency and informing policymakers about best practices;

✦ Wording Changes 'Heading' to 'heading' and rephrases about Amending Letter.

41.50. Reverses all the cuts unduly made by the Council under Headingheading 3, by restoring the DB levels for all other lines; recalls that, traditionally, anas Amendingusual, LetterAL will1/2026 completecompleted the picture regarding available resources under the EAGF and that the approach to amendments can be adjusted accordingly in the course of the conciliation;

✦ Updates reinforcement figures for heading 3 from EUR 93 million to EUR 98 million and from EUR 110 million to EUR 115 million.

42.51. Reinforces Headingheading 3 by EUR 9398 000 000 in commitment appropriations above the DB (excluding pilot projects and preparatory actions) and by EUR 110115 704 728 compared to the Council reading;

Heading 4 - Migration and Border Management

✦ Wording Changes 'placing significant pressure' to 'requiring a significant response' and 'Heading' to 'heading'.

43.52. Underlines that armed conflicts, instability in neighbouring regions, as well as poverty and underlying trends in economic development, demographic changes, but alsoand the consequences of climate change, continue to create migration flows towards the Union, placingrequiring a significant pressureresponse onfrom programmes and agencies under Headingheading 4;

✦ Rewrites paragraph on migration pact to emphasize funding for borders and asylum processing.

44.53. Reiterates the importance of ensuring proper implementation of the Asylum and Migration Pact, in full compliance with international human rights law, and of respecting the principles of solidarity and the fair sharing of responsibility; stressesnotes that effectiveadequate managementfunding andfor the effective protection of the Union’s external borders, inland, air and maritime, arefor essentialcombatting irregular immigration, and for maintainingenhancing the freedomscapacity for asylum and return processing, is essential for the proper functioning of the Schengen area and crucial for bolstering the security of the Union and its citizens; emphasises the necessity for predictable financial support to Union’s borders;

✦ Expands paragraph on smuggling and trafficking, adds reference to Crisis Regulation and Europol revision.

45.54. Underlines the needimportance for Member States to bettercomply protectwith vulnerabletheir peoplecommitments, fromincluding upholding the obligations enshrined in national, Union and international legislation, the right to asylum, and ensuring effective, management and protection of the Union’s external borders, as well as effective, safe and dignified reception, integration and return and readmission procedures; underlines the need to fight criminal networks, migrant smuggling and traffickingtrafficking, networksto better protect vulnerable people and address the negative effects of the instrumentalisation of migrants as part of hybrid attacks;attacks as defined in the Crisis Regulation, notably by pro-Russian forces; recalls the crucial role Border Management and Visa Instrument (BMVI) plays in that regard; proposes therefore to increase appropriations for the BMVI by EUR 30 million above the DB; points in this regard to the recently politically agreed revision of the Europol Regulation , in order to strengthen Europol's role, pending adoption by the co-legislators;

55. Notes that additional financing is needed under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) in order to ensure an appropriate implementation of the Asylum and Migration Pact, further boost national capacities and improve procedures for migration management; decides, therefore, to reinforce the AMIF by EUR 10 million above the DB;

✦ Adds call for Frontex to improve efficiency and effectiveness.

47.56. Highlights the need for the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) to have the requisite resources to carry out its tasks in accordance with its mandate - border control activities at the Union’s external borders, assistance to national authorities onwith border monitoring and surveillance and other tasks related to coast guard activities, such as search and rescue, return operations, sharing intelligence and expertise with all Member States as well as the neighbouring non-Uniontthird countries affected by migratory trends and cross-border crime; decides therefore to refuse the Council’s unjustified cut and restore appropriations to the levels of the DB; calls on the Agency to continue to improve is efficiency and effectiveness in terms of resource management;

✦ Wording Changes 'Heading' to 'heading'.

48.57. Reinforces Headingheading 4 overall by EUR 40 000 000 in commitment appropriations above the DB and by EUR 61 000 000 compared to the Council reading;

Heading 5 - Security and Defence

✦ Expands defence paragraph with support for Member States with external borders and full use of MFF revision increase.

49.58. Recalls the highly unstable geopolitical situation and international environment around the Union giving rise to greater security and defence challenges since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine; underlines the need for the Union and its Member States to significantly enhance UnionUnion-level securitycooperation of their armed forces and their defence capabilitiesindustries in order to create a genuine capabilities-based defence unionUnion and to better prepare for and respond to current warfare strategies, unprecedented geopolitical challenges and new hybrid security threats; highlights, in particular, the need for adequate financial support to Member States with external Union borders and especially those with a land border with Russia and/or Belarus, to ensure they have the resources to maintain facilities and installations necessary to secure the external borders of the Union, including electronic border security enhancements and other tools for border monitoring and surveillance; considers that there is broad consensusunderstanding that the Union's current Union budget is too limited to meet the needs for ensuring the security of Europeans in the short and long term; therefore supports significantlythe increasingfull financialuse andof budgetarythe Union2024 investmentMFF forrevision Europeanincrease defencein heading 5 in order to continue better cooperation and coordination between Member States, including measures guaranteeing full interoperability and making joint procurement the future;rule;

✦ Replaces old paragraph 50 with three new paragraphs on maritime security hubs, military mobility, and cybersecurity.

50. Reiterates that military mobility is essential to the Union’s defence preparedness and the protection of its citizens in light of the shifting security environment, the increasing need for cross-border dual-use transport by both road and rail, as well as for law enforcement movements; underlines that the programme is oversubscribed and has substantial absorption capacity; decides, therefore, to increase appropriations for military mobility by EUR 35 million above the DB;

59. Calls for the establishment of European Maritime Security Hubs in the Black Sea, North Sea and Baltic Sea, as a matter of priority in response to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and underlines that such hubs should enhance maritime situational awareness, enable real-time monitoring from space to seabed and strengthen early warning capacities and reactions to the increased threats from the Russian shadow fleet, while ensuring the security of commercial routes; stresses that it must coordinate existing Union and NATO actions, including demining, and manage financial resources to support the development of maritime infrastructure; considers that locating these hubs in the Black Sea, North Sea and Baltic Sea is essential for safeguarding Union security and deepening coordination with NATO;

60. Reiterates that the protection of external border of the Union is crucial, and therefore the military mobility programme is essential to the Union’s defence preparedness and the protection of its citizens in light of the shifting security environment, the increasing need for connectivity via rail, road, sea, and air; highlights the benefits of dual-use projects that also contribute to civilian connectivity, economic recovery, and decarbonisation; points out that the dual-use nature of these investments also produces a positive effect on the general transport infrastructure in the Union; underlines that the programme is oversubscribed and has substantial absorption capacity especially in borderline regions at the frontier with Ukraine and the Russian Federation, which require reinforced infrastructure to cope with heightened security needs; decides, therefore, to increase appropriations for military mobility by EUR 35 million above the DB;

61. Stresses that cybersecurity must be treated as a transversal, coherent and coordinated priority within the Union’s security and defence policy; strongly supports Union’s efforts to tackle rising security threats such as the spread of disinformation, including online disinformation, fake news campaigns against the Union, terrorism, radicalisation and violent extremism within the Union and its neighbouring countries;

62. Decides to restore the nuclear safeguards budget line to the level proposed in the DB in order avoid endangering the programme implementation;

63. Recalls the crucial role played by decentralised agencies operating in the field of security and law enforcement, in particular with regard to the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol); proposes a targeted staffing and financial reinforcement to allow the Agency to properly perform its tasks;

✦ Updates reinforcement figures for heading 5 from EUR 55,136,377 to EUR 52,000,000.

53.64. Reinforces Headingheading 5 overall by EUR 5552 136000 377000 in commitment appropriations above the DB and the Council reading;

Heading 6 - Neighbourhood and the World

✦ Adds concerns about Sub-Saharan Africa and infrastructure needs.

54.65. Welcomes that the MFF revision in 2024 provided for additional funding under Headingheading 6; deplores, however, the fact that this revision fell short of the needs identified by ParliamentParliament, including the Sub-Saharan Africa where the minimum amounts set in the NDICI Regulation are not met and the infrastructure needs are very big; regrets that various budget lines under Headingheading 6 see considerable decreases in the DB as compared to the budget 2025 and in particular for humanitarian aid in contradiction with ever-increasing needs; acknowledges the limited margin available under this Headingheading and the resulting small room for manoeuvre;

✦ Wording Adds 'territorial integrity' and 'illegal'.

55.66. Reiterates its full support to Ukraine in the fight for its territorial integrity, freedom and democracy; deplores the terrible loss of lives and the suffering of the Ukrainian people caused by Russia’s illegal, unprovoked and unjustifiable war of aggression;

67. Underlines the importance of the Southern Neighbourhood line in supporting political, economic and social reforms in the region and in meeting increased humanitarian needs as well as for other purposes of regional cooperation; proposes to increase appropriations for the line by EUR 35 million above the DB, with the aim of increasing funding to UNRWA given its vital role in delivering humanitarian aid and essential services like health and education to Palestinian refugees in Gaza and the wider region, to support reconstruction in Gaza, and to strengthen humanitarian and economic assistance in Syria, with support programmes addressing infrastructure reconstruction, accountability mechanisms, reinforcing the space for civil society and social stability in the country and to support ethnic and religious minorities in the Middle East;

✦ Expands Eastern Neighbourhood paragraph with hybrid threats and media support, increases by EUR 25 million.

57.68. Stresses that the Eastern Neighbourhood continues to be significantly affected by the Russian war of aggression, with countries providing shelter and assistance to refugees fleeing the warwar, experiencing hybrid threats by Russia and Belarus, and facing direct knock-on effects on their economies; stresses the need for targeted financial and technical assistance to help these countries stabilisebe more resilient through stabilising their economieseconomies, improving citizens' socio-economic situation, and strengthenstrengthening public infrastructure amidst these pressures; underlines the importance of supporting countries where, due to the recent suspension or redirection of US democracy and humanitarian assistance funding, including from USAID and the State Department's DRL bureau, many independent civil society organisations and media outlets, including Radio Free Europe, in Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and Armenia have been forced to scale down, suspend, or close, which threatens democratic development and increases the vulnerability of these societies to authoritarian and Russian influence, and to increase support for independent civil society and media facing funding gaps, including Belarus-related outlets operating from the Union, to strengthen resilience against authoritarian influence; proposes, therefore, to increase appropriations by EUR 25 million above the DB for the Eastern Neighbourhood to address these complex challenges;

✦ Adds criticism of reliance on Emergency Aid Reserve and increases humanitarian aid by EUR 50 million.

58.69. Shares the Council’s assessment that the needs for humanitarian aid are increasingly high; considers that, given the highly challenging international context, increasing geopolitical instability, escalating conflicts, accelerating humanitarian crises around the globe, rising extreme poverty and hunger, and the ongoing climate change-induced emergencies, humanitarian aid needs in 2026 are likely to be much higher than estimated by the Council and the Commission;Commission while the financial appropriations profile is decreasing and points out that the Union’s humanitarian aid budget has relied heavily on the Emergency Aid Reserve (EAR) for structural reasons reducing the Union’s ability to respond to emergencies; regrets that the modest increase proposed by the Council is made at the expense of other essential budget lines within Headingheading 6; proposes, therefore, taking into account the limited margin available and in addition to restoring all of the cuts unduly made by the Council, to increase appropriations for humanitarian aid by EUR 50 million compared to the DB;DB and regrets that the lack of available margin under heading 6 and flexibility does not allow for further reinforcement;

✦ Adds new paragraph welcoming Ukraine Facility and other facilities.

70. Welcomes the fact that the introduction of the Ukraine Facility, Western Balkan and Moldova Facilities over the MFF ceilings provides a stable basis for support for those countries and releases some pressure on the availabilities within heading 6, particularly the Eastern Neighbourhood;

71. Wishes to add a new budget line dedicated to the Reform and Growth Facility for the Republic of Moldova; argues that this is the prerogative of the budgetary authority and is in line with the requirement set out in the Financial Regulation for budget nomenclature to comply with the principles of specification, sound financial management and transparency; believes that the creation of such a budget line is justified due to the fact that as a rule, each chapter of the Union budget shall correspond to a programme or an activity, in order to allow the budgetary authority to oversee and control the implementation of programmes and activities independently from one another;

✦ Wording Changes 'Heading' to 'heading'.

60.72. Overall, reinforces Headingheading 6 by EUR 110 000 000 in commitment appropriations above the DB and the Council reading;

Heading 7 - European Public Administration

✦ Wording Changes 'Heading' to 'heading'.

61.73. Recalls that spending under Headingheading 7 should be set at a level that guarantees that the Union has an effective and efficient administration; considers that the Council’s cuts in this heading are unjustified and would not allow the Commission to fulfil its tasks; restores therefore the DB for the Commission administrative expenditure, including with respect to the executive agencies and the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the EU (CdT);

✦ Adds new paragraph on JSIS concerns and calls for improved treatment.

74. Notes the concerns about JSIS and its implementation; criticises that vulnerable persons do not receive adequate guidance and support; regrets the insufficient and outdated treatment catalogue for certain conditions and illnesses and regrets the severe lack of contact persons for the staff of the institutions; calls on the PMO to include innovative and modern diagnosis and treatment methods and to boost prevention, treatment and rehabilitation;

Pilot projects and preparatory actions (PP-PAs)

77. Maintains unchanged the overall level of its budget for 2026 set at EUR 2 636 241 620, in line with its estimates of revenue and expenditure for the financial year 2026;

✦ Expands Parliament's priorities to include digital transformation, cybersecurity, and Green parliament.

65.78. Reiterates the Parliament’s priorities for the forthcoming financial year, namely, continuing reinforcing the administrative support for Parliament to exercise its core functions of co-legislator, budgetary and discharge authority, the digital andtransformation greenand transitions,cybersecurity, including investments in cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, achieving the Green parliament, as well as continuing supporting multilingualism;

79. In line with its resolution of 3 April 2025 on Parliament’s estimates of revenue and expenditure for the financial year 2026 and taking into account the answers provided by the Secretary-General of the Parliament on 3 September 2025:

✦ Adds mention of DG COMM and DG TRAD reforms and further simplification initiatives.

(a) welcomes the reforms of DG INLO, DG ITECITEC, DG COMM and DG COMMTRAD aiming at streamlining the services provided while offering more effective support to Members; takes note of further ongoing simplification initiatives being pursued by the administration and that an Action Plan was issued in June 2025 onin administrativethis simplification;context; asks the Secretary-General to provide the Committee on Budgets with estimation on the simplification impact achieved, comparing the actual results with the expected outcomes and then semestrial updates on the progress of that Action Plan with the impact in terms of budget and staff; recalls the importance of rationalising bureaucratic processes; welcomes therefore that several actions aiming at reducing administrative burdens for Members and facilitating their human resources management are on-going;

✦ Adds call for Bureau to evaluate AI tools for legislative process and use European solutions.

(b) highlights the potential of AI to gain efficiencies and streamline administrative processes; welcomes the establishment of an AI Governance Board, an AI Inter-DG Steering Group, and an AI Centre of Competence (DG ITEC);ITEC) while avoiding overlaps between different entities; calls for the implementation roadmap to provide solutions, such as applications and tools, to Members and staff and to be made available as soon as possible, while keeping in mind the related risks, including ethics and data protection; calls on the Bureau to evaluate the possibility of using AI tools, in particular for data analysis as part of the legislative process to support committee work; underlines that in developing and deploying AI applications, the Parliament's IT services should rely on European solutions in order to reduce dependency on non-Union providers for its own security;

✦ Adds commitment to 55% emission reduction and notes charter train capacity increase.

(c) welcomes that the Parliament is progressing in its commitment to environmental sustainability, aiming to achieve a 55 % reduction in its greenhouse gas emissions per Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) by the end of 2028 compared to 2006; recalls that nearly two-thirds of Parliament's carbon footprint originate from the transportation of people; takes note that Parliament’s services are currently reviewing mission practices and revising staff mission rules with the overall goal of enhancing the effectiveness of staff missions and further diminishing their financial and environmental impact; asks that the revision of the staff mission rulesrules, which should also reduce administrative burden, be finalised as soon as possible; points out that the increase in seat capacity in the charter train between Brussels and Strasbourg is expected to further reduce emissions; takes note that a travel emissions calculation tool will be available by end of 2025 to enable staff, Members, and Parliament’s visitors to make more informed travel choices;

✦ Changes 'deplores' to 'points out' and adds details on PV installation in WEISS building.

(d) welcomes that by the end of 2024, the Parliament’s total energy production from solar photovoltaic (PV) has increased substantially by 1040 % since 2020; deplorespoints out that the installation of PV in WEISS building is very difficult;difficult due to its structural design and would not warrant the investment; welcomes at the same time the installation of PVs in seven additional Parliament buildings in 2024, including in Strasbourg; emphasises that decisions on the sourcing of energy must be both ecologically sustainable and financially sound, in line with the applicable legislation;

(e) points out that multilingualism is a fundamental principle that makes the content of deliberations in the Union institutions more accessible and transparent, and ensures that proceedings are democratic; agrees that any AI solutions should ensure equal quality for all official languages of the Union; expects to be informed about the output of the revision of the Code of Conduct for Multilingualism due by the end of 2025;

✦ Adds acknowledgement of SPAAK renovation compliance and Strasbourg infrastructure considerations.

(f) acknowledges that the decision to renovate the SPAAK building is the occasion to ensure the full compliance with applicable environmental and safety requirements; requests the Secretary-General to provide the Committee on Budgets with detailed information on a possible loan to cover the costs of the SPAAK building renovation, in accordance with Article 272(6) of the Financial Regulation, as soon as possible as well as the full planning of the works including the planning of the costs; takes note of the estimation of the costs of several preparatory actions to vacate the SPAAK building by 2027 with a temporary and permanent character; underlines that the total costs indicated in the Secretary-General’s answers mentioned above amount to EUR 28 million, mainly for DGs INLO, ITEC, LINC, SAFE; asks the Secretary-General and the Parliament’s services to find cost-effective solutions;solutions, including taking into account the infrastructures available in Strasbourg; recalls that, according to the Treaty on European Union, Parliament is to have its seat in Strasbourg; notes that permanent changes would require a Treaty change for which unanimity is needed;

(g) reiterates that Europa Experiences are an integral part of Parliament’s ongoing engagement with Union citizens; welcomes the adjusted concept of Europa Experiences as approved by the Bureau on 31 March 2025, to be more cost-efficient and more attractive to visitors; calls on the Secretary-General to update the Committee on Budgets about the savings following the implementation of this revised concept; reiterates its calls for the establishment of Europa Experiences in all Member States as soon as possible;

(h) highlights the role played by European Parliament Liaison Offices (EPLOs) in countering foreign interference and disinformation; takes note that the Bureau Working Group on Communication Outreach and Research endorsed and updated the strategy to counter dis-and misinformation; takes note of the actions taken by the services in that regard; expects that such activities are further strengthened, including the close cooperation with other Union institutions, such as Commission and the European External Action Service and security services in Member States;

✦ Adds four new paragraphs on Kyiv office, perinatal proxy voting, nursery, and geographical balance.

(i) strongly condemns the brutal attack on the EU delegation in Kyiv from 28 August 2025 hit by Russian missiles; luckily no staff member was harmed; welcomes the decision by the Parliament to open a permanent office of the European Parliament in Kyiv highlighting the ongoing commitment of the Parliament towards Ukraine; highlights the importance of continuous reinforcement of Parliament’s buildings security in all locations, as well as the security in all Union institutions;

(j) welcomes the recent initiatives endorsed by the Conference of Presidents and the Bureau to allow Members in the perinatal period to entrust their vote by proxy;

(k) reiterates its request for an impact assessment on the need to establish and equip a Strasbourg-like nursery (salle familiale) within the premises of the Parliament in Brussels to reinforce the institution’s commitment for family-friendly workplace policies;

(l) welcomes the measures that the Parliament has taken in order achieve a better geographical balance among Member States across all staff levels such as increasing its participation in career events, prioritising underrepresented Member States and organising nationality-specific competitions without compromising on its commitment to a strictly merit-based selection process;

80. Recalls the opinion of the Committee on Budgetary Control for the Bureau on the political group Identity and Democracy - Dissolution and final financial report 2024; recalls DG FINS’s findings that at least EUR 4 333 635,78 were unduly spent by the group over the 2019-2024 term, resulting in a significant damage to the budget and reputation of Parliament; welcomes the opinion of the Committee on Budgetary Control calling for the required procedures with a view to recover the full amount of ineligible expenditure without delay and to assess the potential liabilities of the responsible Members and hierarchy for intentional or gross-negligent authorisation of irregular expenditure;

81. Takes note of the early termination of the service contract concerning the SPINELLI self-serving canteen and welcomes the agreement reached to ensure continuity of business as well as certainty for the affected external staff; takes note that the agreement re-introduces for the first time since 2015 a subsidy for Parliament’s canteen services and asks the administration to keep the Committee on Budgets informed of the impact for the budget 2026 of this measure; invites the administration to seek, together with the service provider, technical and operational solutions to ensure long-term profitable operations of the SPINELLI self-serving canteen that avoid the use of subsidies, while maintaining a high quality, diverse and affordable offer as well as decent working conditions for staff;

✦ Adds new paragraph on APAs in official delegations.

82. Recalls that the Parliament has, since 2018, consistently voted by an overwhelming majority in favour of lifting the overall ban on the participation of APAs in official delegations and missions; regrets that the Secretary-General and the Conference of Presidents continue to ignore the will of the majority of this House; reiterates its call on the competent bodies to amend the relevant provisions of its internal rules to allow, under certain conditions, the participation of APAs in official missions and delegations outside Parliament’s three places of work as a matter of urgency;

Other Sections (Sections IV-X)

✦ Wording Changes 'Heading' to 'heading'.

68.83. Reiterates its deep concerns with the situation of Headingheading 7 of the current MFF; recalls that the constraints are the results of the cuts applied by the Council to the Commission’s already very low initial proposal when agreeing on the current MFF 2021-2027; regrets the Council’s opposition to the Commission’s proposal to increase the ceiling of Headingheading 7 in the MFF revision as from 2024; points to the failure to address the issue of the ceiling of Headingheading 7 in the MFF revision; highlights that the forecasted negative margin for 2026 presupposes the use of special instruments in Headingheading 7 for that purpose;

84. Condemns the Commission’s horizontal approach to reduce the estimates of the institutions in order to adhere to the principle of stable staffing, and to a maximum increase of 2 % for non-salary related expenditure irrespective of new tasks given to the institutions by the Commission and the co-legislators; underlines the negative consequences of this approach on the work of the institutions;

87. Increases, for the following duly justified cases, the level of appropriations or staff above the DB in order to give the institutions enough resources to perform adequately, efficiently and effectively the growing number of tasks from their mandate and to be equipped for the upcoming challenges, in particular as regards cyber-security and artificial intelligence; highlights that most of the issues are recurrent issues that were not solved in previous budgetary procedures; proposes therefore to:

✦ Adds note on European Ombudsman's growing workload.

(a) restore the level of appropriations in line with the estimates of the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Ombudsman, by increasing the level of appropriations above the DB for budgetary lines that cover cyber-security and operational needs; recalls that the European Ombudsman is facing a growing number of complex complaints and is launching more proactive investigations into transparency, ethics, and accountability in Union institutions;

(b) restore the level of appropriations partially in line with the estimates of the European Economic and Social Committee, the European Committee of the Regions, the European Data Protection Supervisor and European Data Protection Board and the European External Action Service by increasing the appropriations above the DB for budgetary lines covering building security, particularly in delegations, cyber-security and operational needs;