Long months of work and discussions with the European Commission are behind us. Above all, we demanded that the money in the new EU budget should be as high as possible for Poland. Secondly, that the regions should have a subjective role and that policy decentralisation should take place. And we have succeeded. Poland will be the largest beneficiary of the EU financial perspective 2028-2034. We also already know that the regions will be able to carry out investments and will have their own investment autonomy. It will take place on different terms than before, but we have not allowed the regions to be eliminated from the cohesion policy and the EU budget

- Minister of Development Funds and Regional Policy, Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz said. 

The European Commission has proposed an ambitious, higher budget for 2028-2034 worth a total of EUR 2 trillion. It is based on four pillars:

1. The European social model and the quality of life.
2. Competitiveness, prosperity and security.
3. Global Europe.
4. Administration.

In order for beneficiaries to be able to start benefiting from European funds under the new perspective, i.e. from 2028, the Council of the EU should conclude its work on the new EU budget in the first months of 2027 at the latest. It is therefore crucial that work in the Council and the Parliament proceeds smoothly.

What does the European Commission proposal assume?

The European Union budget for 2028-2034 is designed so as to avoid overburdening Member States' budgets and imposing excessive financial obligations on them. Furthermore, it should remain in line with the new EU priorities and Treaty policies.

Funds currently managed jointly by the Member States and the European Commission (in so-called shared management) will feed into the new Fund. Its main aim is to support projects in areas such as:

• cohesion policy, 
• sustainable development,
• competitiveness,
• security in its broadest sense, including defence and cyber-security.

On the basis of the new Fund, uniform programming and implementation rules are to be established, above all:

• cohesion policy funds (ERDF, Cohesion Fund, ESF+), 
• Common Agricultural Policy,
•  European Fisheries Policy, 
• Social Climate Fund,
• asylum policy.

The Fund also includes money for Interreg programmes, migration, asylum and technical assistance. The Social Climate Fund, which will finance the Social Climate Plan, will also be a part of the Fund.

The special European Competitiveness Fund shall be established to close the “competitiveness gap” between Europe and the United States and China. It will aim to enhance the European Union's competitiveness in strategic sectors and technologies and strengthen its economic resilience and security by, among others, reducing strategic dependencies, developing key value chains, addressing investment barriers and market failures or supporting SMEs and start-ups. 

Defence and security expenditure, on the other hand, has been included in a horizontal manner. They are placed in many areas of the budget - in the Connecting Europe Facility, in the cohesion policy, in the European Competitiveness Fund, in Horizon. This approach takes into account not only the support of the defence industry, but also the adaptation of infrastructure, including the infrastructure related to military mobility.

The budget proposal also assumes the creation of provisions in individual instruments for unforeseen and crisis situations. 

From the Polish perspective, one of the most important, and at the same time desirable and beneficial issues is the inclusion of cohesion, competitiveness and security among the main objectives of the new Fund. Cohesion is particularly in line with the call for maintaining decentralisation in the implementation of cohesion policy funds in the new EU allocation. We welcome the strong emphasis on the principle of partnership in the implementation of the National and Regional Partnerships Plans to be prepared by the Member States, through the need for broad involvement of stakeholders, including regional and local authorities, and the use of a bottom-up approach. Supporting the development of all EU regions - especially the less developed, border and transition regions - is the best way to unlock their hitherto untapped potential. Only such actions will strengthen the long-term competitiveness and resilience of the EU.

The European Commission is withdrawing from the idea that the EU budget for 2028-2034 should be funded by ETS2, a tax on exhaust gases and home heating. We believe that this is the beginning of successive changes in this area, beneficial for Poland and the EU as a whole.

Dynamic calendar 

Denmark, which took over the presidency of the Council of the EU from Poland on 1 July 2025, wants to impose a fast pace and intends to proceed quickly on the Multiannual Financial Framework 2028-2034. On 16 July, proposals for the new EU budget are due to be presented at the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER). Two days later (18 July), it will also be discussed by Member State representatives at the General Affairs Council (GAC). 

The new draft Multiannual Financial Framework will also be one of the main topics of the next GAC meetings scheduled for 21 October, 17 November and 16 December. The aim of the negotiations is to construct and define such a budget which, on the one hand, meets the challenges currently faced by both the Member States and the European Union as a whole and, on the other hand, meets the expectations and capacity of all Member States, including Poland.