The European Union is gearing up for its new budget and, for the first time, has allowed European citizens to propose some areas to focus on. They want the EU to invest more in green economy measures and be more independent in defence.
As part of the European Commission’s political priority to push for closer ties between citizens and institutions, the European Citizens’ Panels participated in this phase of the definition of the EU budget. A panel of 150 randomly selected citizens from all countries of the bloc made 22 recommendations and 11 key principles to help draft the new budget.
European Commissioner for Budget Piotr Serafin received the recommendations. “The EU budget is made for citizens. And citizens hold so much first-hand information from the countries and regions they come from,” he commented upon receiving the document. Following up on this, the next Multiannual Financial Framework will consider the recommendations, and eventually, the EU institutions will analyse them for the next budget.
Several of the recommendations concerned the environment for prevention and ensuring that green projects are compatible with economic growth. The promotion of renewable energy is also mentioned to achieve more energy independence.
The panel asks the EU to be more involved and create a more independent bloc in defence and digital security. Digitalisation is another wide sector of focus, with requests for more EU sovereignty in digital technologies, more resources to simplify the digitalisation process of administration, plus support for new technologies like AI.
