EPP opens up to von der Leyen’s controversial money for reforms plan

The EU’s centre-right powerhouse is ready to link funds to reforms in the bloc’s long-term budget.

After Euractiv reported that the European People’s Party (EPP) was moving to oppose the plan by Ursula von der Leyen – herself from EPP – to tie EU money to political reforms, the party has caved.

The battleground: on 16 and 23 July, the EU executive will make a proposal for what the bloc’s €1.2 trillion budget for 2028 to 2034 should look like. 

The EPP now says the reforms-for-cash model is acceptable, but only “if those reforms are proven to be proportionate, well-calibrated, directly linked with the relevant EU policies and set at the appropriate level,” reads their final position paper, approved by the group on Wednesday and seen by Euractiv.

The approach is a departure from the earlier draft, which saw the group “rejects any attempt at centralisation” inspired by the €650 billion COVID-19 recovery loan scheme, which tied tranches of EU money to Brussels-approved reform plans.

Keep regions and farmers out of this

Reforms tied to EU funding should be specific to both the policy area and level of government, the party suggested.

"It would be unfair, for example, if farmers lost funding simply because their government failed to implement a fiscal reform,” explained the EPP’s budget point man, Siegfried Mureșan.

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