At a meeting in Brussels, the PES Presidium set out its priorities for the EU's long-term budget

The Presidium of the Party of European Socialists (PES) held a meeting in Brussels where it set out common priorities for the next long-term EU budget and discussed stronger cooperation between left-wing parties. The discussions focused on improving people’s everyday lives, supporting the democratic opposition and countering the growing influence of the far right in Europe and beyond.

Ten progressive priorities for the 2028-2034 budget

The Presidium discussed the next long-term EU budget for 2028-2034, building on the work of the PES Working Group on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), chaired by Victor Negrescu, Vice-President of the PES and of the European Parliament.

Participants called for an ambitious budget that meets people’s needs, protects common European policies and provides sufficient funding both for existing commitments and for new challenges.

The Presidium adopted the declaration “An Ambitious Budget for Europe 2028-2034”, which sets out ten progressive priorities for the negotiations. They include increasing social investment, expanding access to affordable housing and quality healthcare, protecting cohesion and agricultural policies, delivering a fair green transition and strengthening Europe’s security and its capacity to act on its own.

The declaration calls for new, genuine EU own resources to finance these ambitions and to repay the NextGenerationEU debt without undermining core European programmes. It also supports joint borrowing in certain cases to strengthen security and strategic autonomy and to respond to emergencies.

PES President Stefan Löfven stressed that Europe cannot achieve more with less money. “We need adequate funding and new, genuine own resources to meet new challenges without cutting the core programmes on which people and local communities depend,” he added.

Kristian Vigenin’s position and the situation in Bulgaria

As a member of the PES Presidium, Kristian Vigenin supported the declaration and expressed hope that key EU policies such as cohesion and agriculture, which are important for Bulgaria, will not fall victim to disagreements between member states and to domestic political problems in some of them.

Vigenin, who is also a member of the Initiative Committee of Iliana Iotova and Kiril Valchev, briefed his colleagues on the course of the election campaign, on the mobilisation of socialists in support of the candidates with number 25, and on the expectation that their victory will bring stability to political processes in Bulgaria after years of political and institutional crises.

In response to the weak performance of left-wing parties in a number of Central and Eastern European countries, the Presidium set up a working group to analyse the reasons and to help parties, including the BSP, in their efforts to regain citizens’ trust.