In a speech to the European Parliament's plenary session, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen defended the Commission's proposal for the new multiannual financial framework 2028-2034 (→eucrim 2/2025, 136-137). She emphasised that, in the light of a reshaped world order, the EU needs a strong and reliable new budget. She also argued that the proposal responds to MEPs' calls for a more ambitious, more coherent and more flexible EU budget.

Von der Leyen touched upon the main features of the proposal, including the three pillars:

• National and regional partnership plans;
• Competitiveness fund;
• The Global Europe instrument.

She stressed that the EU must now make decisions for the world of 2034. A world that may be fundamentally changed by geopolitics or artificial intelligence. In conclusion, the Commission President pointed out that the next multiannual budget should apply from 2028 and any delay would be at the expense of everyone in Europe.

Meanwhile, criticism of the Commission's proposal is growing among EU institutions.

On 30 October 2025, the EP's four pro-European groups stated in a joint letter to von der Leyen that the “one national plan per Member State" approach with the Recovery and Resilience Facility model as a blueprint is unacceptable for the EP. The groups disagree with the National and Regional Partnership Plan (NRPP) Regulation as it stands - with large amounts of unallocated funds. This would lead to fragmentation, de-solidarization and the financing of 27 disparate national plans, the letter says. Concerns are also raised about the approach of decoupling policies, the foreseen weak role of regional and local authorities in cohesion policy, and the lack of a dedicated legislative framework for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The letter also mentions that the Conditionality Regulation and the compliance with EU values must apply to the entire EU budget, including to the future Cohesion and CAP national plans, and not be duplicated in parallel instruments. Rather than creating overlapping tools, the Commission should be more proactive and coherent in the enforcement of the rule-of-law toolbox. Breaches of rule of law should, as a principle, lead to automatic decommitments and MEPs insist that there shall be no reshuffling of EU funds suspended due to rule-of-law breaches.

On 16 October 2025, members of the European Committee of the Regions’ COTER Commission and the European Parliament’s REGI Committee also raised concerns. They opposed the nationalisation of cohesion policy, with regions side-lined from the design and management of territorial investments without clear allocations for specific categories. They stressed the need for a well-funded cohesion policy that would not trigger competition between, for example, mayors and farmers, as a result of the merging of regional and agriculture resources.