00:00The European Parliament's plenary session continues today in Strasbourg with the Commission President Ursula von der Leyen
00:06joining a debate on the Middle East later this morning.
00:09But there's also plenty of talk about the EU's long-term budget, which is currently under negotiation.
00:15For more, we can cross over to Strasbourg now and to our correspondent Vincenzo Genovese.
00:20Vincenzo, welcome back to the programme.
00:22Yesterday, we know the Parliament adopted its own position on the EU's long-term budget,
00:27which runs for seven years from 2028. Tell us more.
00:31Good morning. Good morning from Strasbourg.
00:33The MEPs want more money, as expected, in the EU's seven-year budget.
00:37They are calling for a 10% increase compared to the proposal put forward by the European Commission last July,
00:44bringing it up to over €2 trillion, which is 1.27% of the EU's GNI.
00:52Why this increase? Because they are seeking more funding for defence, competitiveness, strategic priorities,
00:59but without cutting allocations for agriculture, fisheries, cohesion policy, or programmes such as Erasmus.
01:06So, this is an ambitious target and will very likely clash with EU member states,
01:11which are always, you know, reluctant to increase their national contributions to the EU budget.
01:17But tough negotiations between MEPs and national governments are expected in the next months.
01:24Each side will try to push its own priority, and who better than Sophie Wilmess to discuss it?
01:30She is an MEP. She is the vice president of the European Parliament, but she was prime minister of Belgium.
01:36Good morning. Welcome.
01:37Good morning.
01:39Will the European Parliament bow to the presser of the member states at the end, like it was in the
01:44previous budget talks?
01:46Well, we are at the beginning of the discussion, and it's normal that everybody is playing a role.
01:50I had the chance to sit in both situations, in the parliament side, but also at the council side.
01:56It's very normal, and it's usual that the member states are pushing for a budget a little bit down,
02:02while the parliament is pushing for more.
02:04The reality is that we are facing a lot of new challenges.
02:08You talk about it, competitiveness, our autonomical strategy,
02:13but we also have challenges on security and defence, and those require more money, for sure.
02:19Moving on to today's agenda of the European Parliament,
02:22there is an important vote on the rule of law report.
02:25You have worked on this file.
02:27Can you tell us which member states are, let's say, the bad kids in Europe now?
02:31So, actually, the report of the European Parliament, we try not to name and shame.
02:38We were really focused on transversal and horizontal issues.
02:43Of course, we could not make a report without speaking about Hungary.
02:47That's totally normal.
02:48What is very special this time is that we speak about an integrated cycle for the rule of law,
02:54which is something that have carried for more than a year now,
02:57and is now a reality in this report.
03:01As you mentioned Hungary, and as Peter Maguire is in Brussels today,
03:05can the new government put the things back on track in Hungary?
03:08You know, it's much more difficult to put things back on track than to dismantle rule of law,
03:12and we have seen that everywhere.
03:14We are very hopeful for this new team and this new government to put things on track.
03:19They say they will, and I think that we need to support that.
03:22Today on the agenda, there is also a debate on antisemitism, which seems to be in rise in Europe.
03:28Do you see this as it's connected to Israel's geopolitical agenda?
03:32So, it doesn't seem to be rising in Europe.
03:34It is rising in Europe, and it is definitely rising since the attack of the 7th of October.
03:39But we need to make very cautious distinction between the government in Israel and the Jewish community.
03:47And whatever a minister or a government does, does not excuse antisemitic action.
03:55And this is something that we need to tackle now.
03:57There is a roadmap and there is a strategy for antisemitism from the European Commission.
04:02We wanted to update it since it was birthed, it was born two years before the attack.
04:08And last question, as you are a vice chair of the EU-US relation committee,
04:15do you think that the EU should do or can do without the US?
04:19I think that Europe should do with Europe and does not prevent it from doing with the US, but also
04:27other partners.
04:27But what is very important regarding the United States is that we are talking to each other as equal partners
04:33and not as a big brother against the little brother or the little sister.
04:37That's not the way I see things.
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